1.7 million Palestinians forcibly displaced in Gaza: UNHCR

UNHCR spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said during a press conference at the United Nations office in Geneva on Tuesday that “resolving the catastrophic situation experienced by civilians in Gaza must remain a priority.”

“UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk urges all states with influence to do everything in their power to halt the increasingly horrific human rights and humanitarian crisis in Gaza, rising violence and targeted attacks in the West Bank, and the heightened risk of a wider escalation of conflict in the Middle East,” Shamdasani said.

She said that “Israel continues to impose unlawful restrictions on the entry and distribution of humanitarian assistance, and to carry out widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure.”

Shamdasani added, “There are about 1.7 million forcibly displaced people in Gaza. These people live in terrifying conditions and under constant threat.”

“In the past week alone, fighting has intensified in Middle Gaza leading to the displacement of some 10,000 people from in and around a Nuseirat camp and near Wadi Gaza,” she said.  

Israel denies hindering humanitarian relief to Gaza. The regime has faced increased international pressure to let more supplies into the Gaza Strip since it attacked an aid convoy on April 1, killing international relief workers.

“Those delivering or trying to access humanitarian assistance must never be attacked,” added Shamdasani.

Shamdasani said that UNHCR also received reports that during Eid al-Fitr last week, the Israel forces attacked at least eight mosques in a Nuseirat and Gaza City, and struck a further three on 14 April.

Since October 2023, 534 mosques have been destroyed or damaged according to the Gaza Government Media Office. Places of worship are protected under the laws of war, she noted.

Shamdasani pointed out that the increasing violence against Palestinian and their proprieties in the occupied West Bank the past days.

She stated that Palestinians are subjected to attacks by hundreds of Israeli colonists, who are often accompanied or supported by Israeli soldiers.

She stressed that the “occupying power” must take all measures within its authority to restore order and public security in the West Bank.

“The Israeli security forces must immediately put an end to their active participation and support for colonists attacks against Palestinians,” Shamdasani added.

The regime began the genocidal campaign in Gaza on October 7, 2023, after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas carried out Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the usurping entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.

Israel has killed at least 33,800 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, since.

The Save the Children organization is deeply alarmed by the toll and suffering being exacted on children in the Gaza Strip.

According to the charity, more than 14,500 of Gaza’s 1.1 million children have been killed. And thousands more are missing, presumed buried under the rubble, their deaths unmarked.