Gaza: The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that the area of Gaza under displacement orders or within Israeli-militarized zones has risen to 87.8 percent.

According to Qatar News Agency, the mass displacement order issued by the Israeli military on Sunday has dealt yet another blow to the already fragile lifelines keeping people alive across the Gaza Strip. The order covers about 5.6 square kilometers of Deir al Balah, spanning four neighborhoods.

Initial estimates indicate that between 50,000 and 80,000 people were in the area at the time the order was issued, including some 30,000 people sheltering in 57 displacement sites. At least 1,000 families have fled the area in recent hours.

UN staff are remaining in Deir al Balah, spread across dozens of premises. Their coordinates have been shared with the relevant parties. These locations, as with all civilian sites, must be protected, regardless of displacement orders.

With this latest order, around 2.1 million Palestinian civilians are squeezed into a fragmented 12 percent of the Strip, where essential services have collapsed. The new order cuts through Deir al Balah all the way to the Mediterranean Sea, further splintering the Strip. It will limit the ability of the UN and its partners to move safely and effectively within Gaza, choking humanitarian access when it is needed most.