The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has decried the mass displacement of Palestinians in Gaza, as the Israeli army continues to issue more evacuation orders for various parts of the Strip.

“Mass evacuations in Gaza choke survival and severely constrain aid operations,” Muhannad Hadi, humanitarian coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory was quoted as saying in a post on X.

Thousands of Palestinians have fled parts of Deir el-Balah as the Israeli military issued new evacuation orders yesterday, and its forces advanced deeper into the overcrowded central city.

The area was previously designated by Israel as a so-called “humanitarian safe zone” for civilians, but the Israeli army ordered residents, many of them displaced multiple times already, to leave before a new military operation there.