The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has warned that Israeli occupation’s declared plan to fully reoccupy Gaza City would have “devastating humanitarian consequences” for civilians already suffering from exhaustion, malnutrition, repeated displacement, and a lack of basic life-sustaining resources.
In a statement, OCHA said that approximately 86% of Gaza’s territory is now under evacuation orders or direct military control. The remaining areas, including parts of Gaza City and the southern coast, are overcrowded and ill-equipped to support the survival of hundreds of thousands of people.
The plan, approved by the Israeli occupation’s government on 8 August, aims to seize the city by forcibly displacing its population, estimated at around one million, to the south, encircling the area, and conducting incursions into residential neighbourhoods. OCHA described this as a “blueprint for further disaster” that could amount to forced transfer under international law.
Hospitals in the south, OCHA noted, are operating far beyond their capacity. Receiving additional patients from the north would have potentially life-threatening consequences.
The statement added that no shelter materials have been allowed into Gaza since the beginning of March, while more than 780,000 new cases of displacement have been recorded. Many existing shelters are deteriorating or being abandoned due to repeated evacuation orders, making the need for alternative accommodation “extremely urgent”.
Meanwhile, Gaza’s Government Media Office has said that the Strip requires over 600 aid trucks daily to meet the basic needs of its 2.4 million residents, amid near-total infrastructure collapse caused by the ongoing war since 7 October 2023.
OCHA stressed the need to allow all displaced persons to return home, facilitate unhindered humanitarian access across Gaza, ensure large-scale entry of aid through all possible crossings, and enable humanitarian organisations, including UN agencies and NGOs, to operate freely.
Since 2 March, Israeli occupation has closed all border crossings into Gaza, blocking humanitarian aid, despite the presence of aid convoys stalled at its borders, pushing the region into a state of famine.
Concurrently, Israeli occupation’s assault on Gaza, with U.S. support, continues to exact a devastating toll: over 62,000 Palestinians killed, 156,000 injured (the majority women and children), more than 9,000 missing, and hundreds of thousands displaced. Famine has also claimed the lives of 263 people, including 112 children.
The implementation of this military plan, involving forced displacement, the encirclement of civilian areas, and systematic starvation, reflects a deliberate intent to commit war crimes, crimes against humanity, and potentially genocide. It clearly indicates that the objective extends far beyond military operations to the wholesale erasure of civilian life in Gaza
