The event came after UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric declared shortly before Friday night’s midnight Eastern Standard Time that UN representatives in Gaza had received word from “their liaison officers in the Israeli military” that everyone residing north of Wadi Gaza needed to move to southern Gaza within the next 24 hours.
“Death sentence” in numerous cases
According to Mr. Dujarric, about 1.1 million people should evacuate northern Gaza. He also stated that all UN personnel and those receiving shelter in UN buildings, including as clinics, schools, and health centers, were subject to the same directive.
According to Mr. Dujarric, the UN requests that the order be revoked since it believes that such a movement is “impossible” to occur without having catastrophic humanitarian effects.
In line with that sentiment, the World Health Organization (WHO) of the United Nations supported its request that Israel revoke the evacuation order, which many saw as a “death sentence,” according to WHO spokeswoman Tarik Jasarevic.
He informed reporters in Geneva that it would be “impossible to evacuate vulnerable hospital patients from the north of Gaza,” in accordance with the opinion of the local health authorities.
In addition, while UN President António Guterres and his envoys resumed their diplomatic efforts, the UN renewed its requests for the safety of civilians and urgent assistance access to the sealed-off enclave, as well as for the prompt release of captives detained in Gaza following Hamas’s fatal attack on Israel on Saturday.
“Driving individuals into the chasm”
On Friday, UN aid organizations added their endorsement to these appeals, imploring the involved parties to preserve civilian life.
Martin Griffiths, the head of United Nations aid efforts, stated that “the circle surrounding those who are civilians in Gaza is expanding” and asked how so numerous individuals were going to navigate their way through a “densely populated warzone” in a matter of days.
The removal order “will only lead to unprecedented levels of misery and further push people in Gaza into abyss,” issued a warning from UNRWA’s chief, Philippe Lazzarini. He stated that in excess of 270,000 of the displaced people in the enclave were looking for protection in UNRWA refuges, totaling over 423,000.
Later on Friday, UNRWA tweeted that Gaza was fast. It is on the verge of collapsing and is turning into a terrible hole. Every party is required to respect the rules of warfare; ” is no exemption.”
UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson James Elder lamented that the humanitarian situation had now reached “lethal lows” when briefing media in Geneva.
He emphasized that hundreds of thousands of children are among the people that find themselves “with nowhere secure to go” in the Gaza Strip, one of the world’s largest inhabited areas.
The difficulties of relocation were further emphasized by OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke, who questioned how it would be possible to do so “in the center of a region of conflict where citizens are virtually at the end of the rope.”
Help is “locked out.”
Additionally, he emphasized how urgent it was for humanitarian aid to reach Gaza because its supplies were running out quickly.
He stated, “We’re practically shut out.”
In order to cater to the urgent requirements of 1.26 million people in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, the United Nations given a fast appeal on Thursday for $294 million, which was going to be distributed to 77 international partners.
Regarding the appeal, Mr. Laerke stated, “This was a response to an escalation that has put people in a predicament in which they shouldn’t be.” “De-escalation remains the most important priority,” he continued.
The “breaking point” of the health system
According to Mr. Jašarević of WHO, Gaza’s health system has reached a “breaking point.” The Indonesian Hospital & Shifa the Hospital, the two primary hospitals in the far north of the Gaza Strip, are nearing their collective capacity of 760 beds, while the hospitals in the southern section of the Strip were also “overflowing.”
Of Gaza’s seven primary school hospitals, Nasrallah indicated only six have been operating at full capacity.
“Death sentence” for those who are weak
He emphasized that transferring susceptible patients—such as adults, adolescents, and babies in intensive care who are gravely injured—would be a “death sentence.”
assaults on medical care
He continued by saying that as of Thursday, 34 attacks on Gaza Strip hospitals since the start of the current offensive were officially verified, leaving 11 hospital employees dead in their positions. He observed that considerable damage has been inflicted by the WHO-supported Gaza Crisis Operation Center.
He also mentioned allegations that one paramedic was murdered in an attack that Hezbollah conducted over the last few days on the Ashkelon clinic in Israel.
increase in hate speech
Speak to the conflict’s ever-stronger global resonance, Ms. Shamdasani said that UN rights chief Volker Türk regretted the “proliferation of anti-Semitic and Islamophobic hate speech” in several nations.
A spokesman for OHCHR asked decision-makers to refrain from inciting hate speech and violence, emphasizing that during this grave situation, people should unite.
She said, “This is a time for the international community to unite in solidarity, and fight for the protection of all civilians, no matter where, no matter what.”
