Gaza, MINA – The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) strongly condemned Israel’s plan to forcibly move Palestinians in Gaza further south toward the city of Rafah, warning that such action could create “massive concentration camps” and deepen the already catastrophic humanitarian crisis.
Juliette Touma, UNRWA’s director of communications, told Al Jazeera English that the agency “categorically refuses any forced displacement of any population.”
“If it happens, it will push further tens of thousands of people who have already been displaced many, many times during this current war but also over generations, further south and from there into the unknown,” Touma said as reported by Anadolu Agency.
She emphasized that the priority should be achieving a ceasefire and allowing humanitarian access. “What needs to happen right now is to focus on reaching a ceasefire and allowing UNRWA to bring in much-needed supplies,” she said.
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Touma revealed that UNRWA has over 6,000 trucks stuck in Egypt and Jordan carrying urgently needed aid. “These trucks are full of medicines that are soon expiring, food that is also going off, we have hygiene supplies,” she said.
“All we are saying is lift the siege, get a ceasefire, allow UNRWA and other UN organizations to do our work,” she added.
The UN previously warned that more than 700,000 people in Gaza have been displaced since the end of the March ceasefire.
Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced he had instructed the army to prepare a plan to relocate all Palestinians to what he described as a “humanitarian city” on the ruins of Rafah in southern Gaza.
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Rejecting international demands for a ceasefire, Israel has continued its military offensive on Gaza since October 7, 2023, killing nearly 57,800 Palestinians, most of them women and children. The ongoing bombardment has devastated the enclave, causing severe food shortages and widespread disease. []
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
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