UNITED NATIONS, February 3. /TASS/. About 75% of Gaza residents - more than 1.7 million people - are displaced and face acute shortages of water, food, medicine and shelter, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported.

"Some 75 per cent of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people, more than half of whom are children, are displaced according to UNRWA’s [The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East] estimates. They face acute shortages of food, water, shelter and medicine," the OCHA report said.

The document also pointed out that intense fighting in the Khan Yunis area continues to push thousands of people into the southern Gaza town of Rafah, which already houses more than half of the enclave's population. According to UNRWA, most are living in makeshift structures, tents, or out in the open.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, when militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian movement Hamas staged a surprise attack on Israeli territory from Gaza, killing residents of Israeli border settlements and taking over 240 hostages, including women, children and the elderly. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. In response, Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians before the crisis, and has been delivering air strikes on Gaza as well as some parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes have also been reported on the West Bank.