UN humanitarian work in Gaza impacted by evacuation order

The United Nations on Monday said humanitarian work in the Gaza Strip has taken a serious blow after Israel ordered a new evacuation in the centre of the besieged territory.

It came as the US announced "progress" in Gaza truce talks underway in Cairo, even after a major but brief cross-border escalation between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group in Lebanon.

On Sunday the Israeli military ordered people to "evacuate immediately" a part of Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, sparking a rapid exodus of civilians and displacing UN and NGO workers.

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"Our humanitarian colleagues are particularly worried about the order" which "effectively upends a whole lifesaving humanitarian hub that was set up in Deir el-Balah following its evacuation from Rafah back in May", the UN's humanitarian office OCHA said in a statement.

The order affected 15 premises hosting UN and NGO aid workers, UN warehouses, a water desalination plant and medical facilities, including the key Al-Aqsa hospital, one of a few still operating in Gaza, it said.

"It severely impacts our ability to deliver essential support and services," the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in the statement.

Speaking to AFP on Sunday from her hospital bed outside the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir el-Balah, Tamam al-Raei said she did not know where to seek safety.

"I have a war injury. I have broken bones and have had an amputation, and I have been receiving treatment for that," she said.

"Where do we go? Where do I get treatment," added the woman, surrounded by other war-weary Palestinians being evacuated from the hospital in a frantic bid to stay ahead of feared Israeli bombardment.

A senior official for the UN refugee agency UNRWA said "the space and the ability of the UN system, of the humanitarian system to operate in Gaza is becoming increasingly difficult", as the UN said it had to halt the movement of aid and workers within Gaza due to the Deir el-Balah evacuation order.

The Israeli military said on Monday it was targeting "terror operatives" in Deir el-Balah and working to dismantle the "remaining terrorist infrastructure" of Hamas.

Israel has ordered several evacuations since its military campaign to "eliminate" Hamas, whose October 7 attack on southern Israel triggered the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.

Israel's retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 40,435 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry which does not give details of civilian and militant deaths. The UN human rights office says most of the dead are women and children.

The Hamas attack that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,199 people in Israel, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

On Monday, Israel's army struck Gaza anew, with witnesses and AFP correspondents reporting air strike and shelling in Gaza City and other parts of the territory.

Medics said an air strike on a Gaza City house killed at least five people, with two rescuers telling AFP more victims may be buried in the ruins in the Al-Rimal neighbourhood

The war has also drawn in Iran-aligned armed groups across the Middle East and sparked fears of a broader regional conflict.

The latest flare-up came on Sunday when Hamas-ally Hezbollah launched rockets and drones at Israel in retaliation for the killing by Israel of one of the group's top commanders in July.

Israel in turn carried out air raids the military said thwarted a larger attack.

Israel later swiftly revoked a state of emergency and Hezbollah said its operation during which hundreds of rockets and drones were fired was "completed".

Israel's army chief Herzi Halevi, however, said Monday the military is "very determined to continue degrading Hezbollah capabilities".

"We are not stopping," Halevi said.

The US meanwhile struck a cautious note of optimism on Monday regarding efforts to clinch a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages taken by Palestinian militants during the October 7 attack.

Out of 251 hostages seized, 105 remain in Gaza including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Their fate is central in truce talks, with relatives and supporters piling pressure on the Israeli government in weekly protests demanding their return home.