Philippe Lazzarini, the Commissioner-General of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), has said that the world has “just witnessed the largest displacement of Palestinians since 1948.”
Fighting between Israeli troops and Hamas in northern Gaza caused another 200,000 people to flee south in the past 10 days, the UN said Tuesday.
More than two-thirds of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million have fled their homes since the war began.
“It is an exodus under our watch. A river of people being forced to flee their homes,” Lazzarini told a press conference in Geneva.
“Some were forced to relive the unlivable: traumas from the past, mostly unhealed.
Others, the younger generation, were forced to live through traumas of ancestors or parents,” he added.
Lazzarini also said the agency’s fuel storage facility in Gaza is empty and its relief operations will soon be halted.
He said that after weeks of warnings and rationing, the agency will soon be out of fuel.
“The depot is now empty,” he said. “It is very simple. Without fuel, the humanitarian operation in Gaza is coming to an end. Many more people will suffer and will likely die.”
Israel has refused to allow fuel shipments into Gaza since Hamas’ cross-border attack on Oct. 7. Israel says Hamas will divert any fuel shipments for military use.
UNRWA provides food, shelter and other services to hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians.
