Gaza- The United Nations said on Monday that it was forced to suspend its humanitarian operations in Gaza due to a new Israeli A senior UN official said the United Nations had issued an evacuation order for the Deir al-Balah area.
The United Nations said on Monday that it was forced to suspend its humanitarian operations in Gaza due to a new Israeli evacuation order for the Deir al-Balah area. © Eyad BABA/AFP
“We are not deployed today. We are not deployed in Gaza as of this morning,” the official said, adding that the UN has sometimes had to “delay or pause” since the war began.
“With this decision, we are not saying that we are stopping our operations, but in practice we can no longer resume our operations,” the official said.
According to the official, the UN had moved “most of our operational personnel” to Deir al-Balah after an evacuation order was issued for Rafah several months ago.
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The Israeli military said on Monday it was targeting “terrorists” in Deir al-Balah and working to dismantle the “remaining terrorist infrastructure” of Hamas, whose attack on southern Israel on October 7 sparked the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military had called on the population on Sunday to “evacuate immediately”.
“We have to find solutions,” the UN official said. “And if that means anchoring for 24 to 48 hours and repositioning ourselves, then we will do that. But we will not leave.”
“The challenge now is to find a place where we can reorient ourselves and work effectively.”
