UNRWA: 420,000 People Displaced Again Since Gaza Ceasefire Collapse

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) announced on Sunday that it currently operates 115 shelters across the Gaza Strip, housing more than 90,000 displaced persons, amid the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Strip.

The agency highlighted in an X post that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is deteriorating as a result of the ongoing bombing and the imposed blockade, which prevents the entry of humanitarian aid and supplies.

The agency estimated that since the ceasefire was broken and “Israel” resumed its attacks on the strip, approximately 420,000 Palestinians have again been displaced.

The World Food Programme (WFP) highlighted that two million people in Gaza—most of them displaced—have no source of income and rely entirely on aid.

It added that with dwindling supplies and continued closure of the crossings, Gaza is in urgent need of food, warning that hundreds of thousands are at risk due to the rapidly decreasing food stock.

Gaza has been driven to a deeper humanitarian crisis by the unprecedented seven-week-long Israeli military blockade that has cut off all aid to the Palestinian strip, The Guardian reported on Saturday, citing medics and humanitarian workers.

Food stockpiled during the two-month ceasefire has been exhausted, leaving Gazans desperate at charity kitchens with empty pots and bowls, while goods at markets are now reportedly selling for 1,400% above ceasefire prices, according to the latest assessment from the World Health Organization.

Famine scarier than airstrikes

Many Palestinians now say they fear famine more than airstrikes, according to those who spoke to the Observer, including Hikmat al-Masri, a 44-year-old university lecturer from Beit Lahia in north Gaza.

Al-Masri said that “many times, I have had to give up my share of food for my son because of the severe shortages. It is the hunger that will kill me – a slow death.”

An estimated 420,000 people are once again on the move due to new Israeli evacuation orders, which have made it difficult to collect reliable data on hunger and malnutrition, though Oxfam estimates that most children are now surviving on less than one meal a day.

“Gaza City is packed with displaced people who have fled Israeli troops moving into the north, and they are living on the street or putting their tents inside damaged buildings that are going to collapse,” stated the Gaza emergency coordinator for Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

About 95% of aid organizations have suspended or reduced their services due to ongoing airstrikes and the blockade, while since February, “Israel” has further tightened restrictions on international staff entering Gaza, and basic medical supplies, including painkillers, are running out.