UN warns of suffocating Deir al-Balah in Gaza… the last lifeline

21st July 2025

2 minutes read

UN warns of suffocating Deir al-Balah in Gaza… the last lifeline

The United Nations warned on Monday about the mass evacuation order issued by the Israeli army targeting Palestinians currently located in Deir al-Balah.

The Israeli evacuation order focuses on a 5.6 square kilometer area in Deir al-Balah, which includes four neighborhoods.

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The UN described this order as yet another devastating blow by Israel to Gaza’s already fragile lifeline that keeps people alive throughout the territory.

According to a statement issued by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), preliminary estimates suggest that between 50,000 and 80,000 people were in the area when the order was issued, including around 30,000 who had taken refuge in 57 displacement sites.

At least 1,000 families fled the area in recent hours, the statement added.

It noted that UN personnel were present in Deir al-Balah and spread across dozens of buildings at the time the Israeli order was issued, and that the relevant parties had been informed.

The statement stressed the need to protect these locations, as with all other civilian sites, regardless of Israeli evacuation orders.

It also pointed out that the area covered by the Israeli order includes several humanitarian warehouses, four primary health clinics, four medical aid points, and vital water infrastructure, including the South Gaza desalination plant, three water wells, one water reservoir, one solid waste landfill, and one wastewater pumping station. Any damage to this infrastructure, it warned, would have severe consequences on civilian life.

The statement further noted that, with this new Israeli order, the area of Gaza under evacuation or designated as military zones now covers 87.8% of the Strip, leaving 2.1 million Palestinian civilians confined to just 12% of the territory—where basic services have collapsed.

It added: “The new order runs through Deir al-Balah to the Mediterranean Sea, further fragmenting the Strip and severely limiting the UN’s and its partners’ ability to move safely and effectively within Gaza, choking humanitarian access at a time when needs are greatest.”

The war erupted following a surprise Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,219 people in Israel. The ongoing Israeli military response has, according to the latest figures from Gaza’s Ministry of Health – deemed reliable by the UN – killed 58,895 Palestinians.