• 'Since the collapse of the ceasefire in March, over a million displacements have been recorded within the Gaza strip,' UNOCHA spokesperson tells Anadol
• 'Families are being displaced again and again, exhausted and traumatized, sleeping in the open. Aid agencies are stretched to the brink,' says Jens Laerke

GENEVA

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) warned Friday that displacement in Gaza is reaching “terrifying” levels, with tens of thousands forced to flee in recent days as Israeli ground operations expand in Gaza City.

A UNOCHA spokesperson, Jens Laerke, told Anadolu that more than 1 million people have been displaced across Gaza since a ceasefire collapsed in March.

"Since the collapse of the ceasefire in March, over a million displacements have been recorded within the Gaza Strip — 200,000 in the last month alone, and 56,000 between last Sunday and Wednesday," Laerke said.

"That number is increasing as I speak. That is a displacement at terrifying speed, frequency and scale — and Gaza City is right in the center of this," he said.

Laerke noted that civilians in Gaza City are losing their “last lifelines.”

"As the military operations intensify, people are being killed, forced on the move, and stripped of the basics they need to survive in a city where a famine has already been confirmed," he said.

He underlined that while people are told to move south, most cannot afford transportation.

"Those without means are walking for days, often under bombardment, often with nothing but what they can carry in their hands. It is survival, step by step, in a place where safety is a complete illusion," he added.

He described “cataclysmic” conditions witnessed by UN staff who reached Gaza City this week.

“A constant stream of families on the move, often on foot, carrying no more than a mattress or a plastic bag. Many arrive in the south only to find that the streets are their only shelter. Parents don’t know where they can lay their children down to sleep.”

“Families are being displaced again and again, exhausted and traumatized, sleeping in the open. Aid agencies are stretched to the brink,” he added.

Laerke reiterated calls for protection of civilians, whether they remain or flee, saying: “Aid must be allowed in at a much larger scale, our ability to deliver it directly to the people suffering must be facilitated, and international law must be upheld.”

He underscored urgent priorities: “What we need to see is a lasting ceasefire, hundreds of trucks entering every day, safe and open routes, an end to bureaucratic delays, more commercial imports and a restoration of power and water supplies.

"The hostages must be released — immediately and unconditionally — and arbitrarily detained Palestinians must be freed.”

Israel launched ground operations in Gaza City on Sept. 15 after weeks of intensified airstrikes. The enclave, now home to more than 1 million displaced Palestinians, remains under heavy bombardment and severe aid restrictions.

According to Gaza’s authorities, Israeli forces have killed at least 3,542 Palestinians in the city since the ground assault began on Aug. 11. Israel has also been accused of deliberately making Gaza City uninhabitable in an effort to drive Palestinians to the south.

An Israeli military official told local media that 480,000 Palestinians have already fled Gaza City toward southern areas.