Israel issues new evacuation orders for Deir al-Balah residents
The Israeli army on 21 August issued new evacuation orders for hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians in the central Gazan city of Deir al-Balah, once again leaving families with nowhere to go as the invading army expands its genocidal war.
“To all residents and displaced persons in Blocks 129, 130 in the Al-Mahta and Deir al-Balah neighborhoods to the south, from Salah al-Din Street to the street marked on the map. The IDF will act forcefully against the terrorist organizations in that area. For your safety, we urge you to evacuate immediately to the west. The area you are in is considered a dangerous combat zone,” the Israeli army’s Arabic spokesman, Avichay Adraee, said via social media.
Wednesday’s evacuation orders for Deir al-Balah were issued just hours after the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) charged Israel with making it “nearly impossible” to deliver aid to desperate Palestinians by constantly displacing survivors.
OCHA said on Tuesday that the evacuation order released on Saturday for parts of Deir al-Balah included sections of the Salah ad Din Road, a crucial passage for humanitarian missions.
This has made it nearly impossible for aid workers to move along this key route, the office said. The Coastal Road is not a viable alternative. The beaches along this route are now crowded with makeshift shelters for displaced Palestinians.
Over 50 Palestinians have been killed across Gaza over the past 24 hours, including nearly two dozen who were massacred in an Israeli attack on a crowded market and a school sheltering displaced in Deir al-Balah.
Tel Aviv claimed it hit a command center used by Palestinian fighters in the school without providing any evidence.
Furthermore, the Director General of the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, Mounir al-Barash, announced on Tuesday that the Israeli army deliberately obstructed the entry of a UN humanitarian convoy carrying critical medical supplies and fuel into Gaza.
According to UN data, nine out of 10 people living in Gaza have been forcibly displaced since 7 October, many of them several times.
