Gaza ‘bursting at seams’ as Israeli offensive expands in the south
TEL AVIV, Israel/gaza — After Israel’s offensive in Gaza expanded into the central section of the coastal strip, there is even less room for Palestinian internally displaced persons, the UN Palestinian relief agency UNRWA said on Tuesday.
“Rafah in the south is now bursting at the seams,” Thomas White, the director of the UN Relief and
Works Agency for Palestine
Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), wrote in a post on X.
“More people in less space ... No respite. Time for a humanitarian ceasefire,” White wrote.
Israel’s ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, which began two months ago, was initially focused on the northern area of the territory. The army called on the civilian population to flee to the south.
Since then, the military has expanded its attacks to the central and southern regions of Gaza. The
Israeli army also called on residents in central Gaza to flee further south.
Residents of the town of Khan Younis in the southeast were also urged to seek safety in Rafah on the Egyptian border.
Israel has hit Gaza with massive airstrikes and a ground offensive since the militant Palestinian Hamas organization and other extremist groups carried out the worst massacres in Israel’s history on October 7.
The UN’S human rights office spokesperson, Seif
Magango, said on Tuesday that the agency was “gravely concerned” by continued Israeli bombings in central Gaza.
Since December 24,
137 people have died in two urban refugee camps alone, the office said, citing information from the aid organization Doctors Without Borders.
“It is particularly concerning that this latest intense bombardment comes after Israeli forces ordered residents from the south of Wadi Gaza to move to Middle Gaza and
Tal al-sultan in Rafah,” he said.
“The Israeli Air Force reportedly carried out more than 50 strikes across middle Gaza on 24-25 December, including on three refugee camps, albureij, al-nuseirat, and al-maghazi.”
All roads between the camps have been destroyed, worsening the already catastrophic situation when it comes to the distribution of supplies.
The UN Human Rights Office reminded that in order to comply with international humanitarian law, Israeli forces must do everything possible to avoid harming civilians.
“Warnings and evacuation orders do not absolve them of the full range of their international humanitarian law obligations.”
Meanwhile in New York, following a request by the UN Security Council in a resolution passed last week, Dutch politician and veteran diplomat
Sigrid Kaag was appointed UN coordinator for humanitarian aid to Gaza on Tuesday.