Over 60% of Gaza's population displaced due to Israel's attacks: UN

GAZA -- At least 60 percent of the population in the Gaza Strip has been displaced as a result of the ongoing Israeli attacks, according to a UN organization.

"About 1.6 million people were forced to be displaced from their houses since the start of the current Hamas-Israel bloody conflict 15 days ago," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a press statement sent to Xinhua on Saturday.

The OCHA said that more than 544,000 people reside in 147 educational districts and schools affiliated with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), including 367,500 in central and southern Gaza, and 70,000 in 67 schools not affiliated with UNRWA.

According to the statement, about 101,000 people took refuge in the Orthodox center, churches in Gaza City, hospitals, and other public buildings.

In addition, the Palestinian Ministry of Social Development estimates that there are about 700,000 displaced people with host families.

According to the statement, institutions affiliated with the UNRWA Educational Operations Department in the central and southern regions of the Gaza Strip have become increasingly overcrowded at a time when severe shortages of basic resources such as water, food, and medicine are reported.

In some educational districts, UNRWA was forced to ration drinking water consumption, providing only one liter of water per person per day.

Overcrowding and lack of basic supplies have raised tensions among internally displaced people, along with reports of gender-based violence, according to the statement.

On Oct 19, UNRWA established the first camp for internally displaced people in Khan Yunis, consisting of 60 tents and hosting hundreds of internally displaced people.

The statement said that there was anecdotal evidence that some displaced people were returning to the northern Gaza Strip, due to the ongoing bombing in the southern part of the Palestinian enclave and failure to find reasonable accommodation.

The displacement of civilians and the associated poor access to basic services has raised concerns for the most vulnerable people, including children, the elderly, those in need of medical care, people with disabilities, and pregnant women, the statement noted.

It is feared that they will be exposed to psychological and social distress, conflict and tension among internally displaced people, deprivation of access to information, and the possibility of abuse or exploitation.

Meanwhile, the Israeli forces continued to intensify their strikes on the occupied Gaza Strip.

The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said Friday that 4,137 Palestinians have been killed and more than 13,000 others wounded since the outbreak of Israel-Hamas conflict on Oct 7. More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, mostly in the initial Hamas attacks on Israel on Oct 7.