UNITED NATIONS, April 4. /TASS/. Nearly 280,000 residents of the Gaza Strip have been displaced from their places of residence or temporary accommodation since Israel resumed hostilities in the enclave on March 18, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.
"More displacement orders were issued, again forcing people to flee in search of safety," the OCHA report reads. As of April 2, "some 280,000 people are estimated to have been newly displaced since the intensification of hostilities on March 18," OCHA specified.
"Increasing numbers of people are moving into the remaining shelters which are already overcrowded," OCHA stated, drawing attention to the problem of "fleas and mites" and difficulties in ensuring proper hygienic conditions in shelters due to the "lack of necessary materials available in Gaza to implement vector control measures" for infections. According to the report, "the UN and its humanitarian partners continue to respond to the immense needs of the population as the conditions allow."
The blockade on the entry of humanitarian aid and essential goods announced on March 2 is "depriving the population of the basics for survival," OCHA stressed. It called for "the immediate reopening of the crossings for the cargo and humanitarian aid to be allowed to enter into Gaza."
On March 18, the Israeli army resumed fighting in the Gaza Strip, launching massive strikes on the enclave and thus breaking the ceasefire established in January this year. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that Israel had restarted military operations in Gaza after Hamas rejected the US proposals put forward by mediators and US Special Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff. The office stated that the Israeli military had resumed strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza to secure the release of hostages. The radicals have blamed the United States for the renewal of Israeli aggression.