NEW YORK, January 9. /TASS/. Displaced residents of the Gaza Strip are fleeing into an ever-shrinking segment of the Palestinian enclave amid Israel’s warnings to evacuate from areas where it has been fighting the Palestinian radical movement Hamas, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported, citing the United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

According to UNRWA, the ground available to 2.2 million people in the Palestinian enclave has shrunk to "just one-third" of the enclave as the Israeli military is pushing Gaza residents to leave unsafe areas.

Some 1.9 million Palestinians accounting for 85% of the enclave’s population have been displaced since the latest escalation between Palestine and Israel, the newspaper wrote, citing UN data. Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip which had a prewar population of 275,000 currently accommodates over a million of Palestinians.

Earlier, UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that Israel had ordered 1.1 million residents of northern Gaza to evacuate south. The Israel Defense Forces explained that Hamas militants were hiding in tunnels beneath houses or civilian buildings in Gaza. The Israeli military also called on all UN employees and those sheltered in UN facilities to evacuate as well.

Hamas has urged northern Gaza residents to ignore the Israeli warnings as it called on the United Nations to take measures against the forced relocation.