GENEVA, December 4. /TASS/. Nearly 1.9 million people in the Gaza Strip, or more than 80% of its population, have been displaced, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said.
"Almost 1.9 million people (or over 80 per cent of the population) have been displaced across the Gaza Strip since 7 October," it said, adding that at least 60,000 residents of the enclave found refuge at UNRWA shelters in a period from November 30 to December 2.
"As of 2 December, almost 1.2 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) were sheltering in 156 UNRWA installations across all five governorates of the Gaza Strip, including in the North and Gaza City," it said. "Nearly 1 million IDPs were sheltering in 99 facilities in the Middle, Khan Younis and Rafah areas.
According to the agency, each of its facilities is accommodating around 10,300 people, or four times as many as they can hold.
In an interview with the Financial Times on December 1, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini warned about the threat of a ‘humanitarian tsunami’ following the resumption of hostilities in the Gaza Strip. According to Lazzarini, the region may be faced with a humanitarian disaster in the winter. Moreover, in his words, medics warn about risks of infections amid the unsanitary conditions and deficits of food and water.
Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion on Israeli territory, killing many Israeli kibbutz residents living near the Gaza border and abducting more than 200 Israelis, including women, children and the elderly. Hamas described its attack as a response to Israeli authorities’ aggressive actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria, as well as a ground operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Clashes are also reported in the West Bank.
On November 22, Hamas announced an agreement with Israel, which was brokered by Egypt and Qatar, on a four-day humanitarian truce in the Gaza Strip, which took effect on November 24. However, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on the morning of December 1 that Hamas had violated the truce in Gaza and opened fire on Israeli territory, thus prompting the IDF to resume combat operations in the Gaza Strip.