Escalating Israeli bombardments and displacement orders have displaced at least 142,000 Gazans in one week, The U.N. reported Wednesday.
Citing the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said at a news conference that "relentless bombardments and daily displacement orders, coupled with the ongoing blockade on cargo entering Gaza and systematic denials of humanitarian movements inside the strip, are having a devastating impact on the entire population of more than 2 million people."
Warning that "everything in Gaza is running out – supplies, time and life," Dujarric noted that the space for civilians to survive is "shrinking as new Israeli displacement orders are issued by the day."
"These orders now cover 17% of Gaza, roughly 61 square kilometers (24 square miles). In just one week, 142,000 people have been displaced, and that number is now expected to rise," he said.
"With every wave of displacement, thousands of people lose not just their shelter, but also access to essential essentials such as food, drinking water, and healthcare," Dujarric added.
The humanitarian office also reported that Israeli forces have expanded areas within Gaza where they require humanitarian organizations to coordinate their movements in advance. Dujarric stated that the requests are routinely denied.
"Between the 18th and 24th of March, 40 out of nearly 50 coordinated aid movements were denied. That's 82%," said Dujarric. "And today, half of our coordinated missions were denied – that's five out of 10."
He emphasized that when humanitarian access is blocked, critical tasks such as retrieving essential supplies or refueling bakeries are severely affected, worsening the already dire situation.
Meanwhile, at least 27 more Palestinians, including six children, were killed in Israeli strikes Wednesday, targeting homes and groups of civilians across the war-devastated territory.
In the Northern Gaza governorate, eight Palestinians, including six children, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a home, according to a medical source.
Two more Palestinians, a father and his son, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on an apartment in the Bureij refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip, a medical source also told Anadolu Agency (AA).
Rescue operations continue in the area in search of other missing people, according to witnesses.
Four people were killed and several others injured in an airstrike near a mosque in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, a medical source said.
Another strike was reported on a charitable soup kitchen in the same camp, killing five people and injuring several others.
Medics said that two more people were killed when fighter jets struck a tent sheltering displaced people in the al-Zawaida area in the central Gaza.
In the southern Gaza Strip, a medical source told AA that two Palestinians were killed, including a woman, in an Israeli strike against a group of civilians in Khan Younis city.
A medical source said that two more Palestinians were killed when an Israeli drone attacked a group of civilians in central Khan Younis.
In Rafah in the southernmost part of the Gaza Strip, two Palestinians, including a woman, lost their lives in two separate Israeli attacks in the Shakoush area.
The Israeli army launched a surprise aerial campaign on the Gaza Strip on March 18, killing 830 people, injuring nearly 1,800 others, and shattering a cease-fire and prisoner exchange agreement that took hold in January.
Nearly 50,200 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and more than 113,700 injured in Israel's genocidal war on Gaza since October 2023.
