The General Commissioner of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, accused Israel of paving the way for the mass expulsion of Gaza Strip residents to Egypt through the border, a claim that Israel has denied.
In an opinion piece published in the Los Angeles Times, Lazzarini pointed to the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the gathering of displaced civilians fleeing the fighting near the borders in the north and then the south.
Lazzarini said, “The developments we are witnessing point to attempts to transfer Palestinians to Egypt, or to resettle them elsewhere,” despite the fact that “the United Nations and many member states, including the United States, have strongly rejected the forced displacement of Gaza residents from the sector.”
Israel had ordered the residents to leave the center of Khan Yunis since it intensified its attack on the southern part of Gaza.
Meanwhile, the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said at the opening of a special session of the WHO Executive Board in Geneva devoted to the repercussions of the Israeli war on Gaza: “The health sector in Gaza faces ‘catastrophic’ repercussions due to the Israeli war, while a UN official confirmed that half of Gaza’s population is starving, and 9 out of 10 do not eat daily.”
The recent conflict in Gaza has led to significant displacement of residents. In Khan Younis, which had a pre-war population of 381,000, another 245,000 people displaced by Israel’s bombardment in the northern part of Gaza have been seeking shelter. The Israeli army directed residents to evacuate to three areas in the Rafah governorate, already overcrowded with 280,000 residents and 470,000 displaced people. This relocation would bring the population in Rafah to 1.35 million, exacerbating the challenges for the U.N. and partners to provide assistance.
The U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) and the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) have warned of a significant rise in poverty due to the conflict. Already, 35,000 housing units in Gaza have been completely destroyed, and around 212,000 partially damaged. The report by UNDP and ESCWA indicates that the conflict has led to the loss of 390,000 jobs and a 4% decline in Gaza’s GDP in just one month. Nearly 1.5 million residents of Gaza are now internally displaced, and the majority might find themselves with nowhere to go. There’s a fear that the majority of Gaza’s population could face multidimensional poverty and deprivation of essential services.
The forced displacement of Gaza residents is a critical concern for Palestinian leadership, which considers it a red line that should not be crossed. The displacement and its implications have drawn international attention and concern.
Egypt has also taken a firm stance against the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza to Sinai. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt emphasized the rejection of any attempts to resolve the Palestinian issue through military means or forced displacement, highlighting concerns about the implications of such movements on regional security and stability.
