January 19, 2024
BBC News, Visual Journalism Team
Image courtesy of Getty Images
In the Gaza Strip, an autonomous region of Palestine, nearly 2 million people, more than 85% of the population, have been forced to flee their homes in the three months since the Islamic group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 last year, and the Israeli military began retaliatory attacks. Ta.
The Gaza Strip has been under effective control of Hamas since 2007. Israel claims it is trying to destroy the military and political capabilities of Hamas, which aims to destroy Israel.
The Gaza Strip is a densely populated area measuring only 41 km from north to south and 10 km from east to west. It faces the Mediterranean Sea on one side, and is blocked by Israel on the other, as well as the Egyptian border. A senior United Nations official says the land has become “uninhabitable.”
Before Israel advanced into the Gaza Strip, it warned residents north of Wadi Gaza (Gaza Valley) to evacuate.
The northern part included Gaza City, the most populous city in the Gaza Strip. The northern Erez checkpoint leading into Israel was closed, leaving people with no choice but to head south.
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Many Gaza residents fled to the south after being warned by the IDF.
Evacuation area in southern Gaza
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is currently focused on operations in the southern Gaza Strip. The main cities in the south, Khan Yunis and Rafah, have been bombed and Israeli forces and Hamas fighters are engaged in ground battles. Palestinians, including those displaced from the north, have been ordered to move to so-called “safe zones.” The thin safe zone of al-Mawasi is an agricultural area bordering the Mediterranean Sea and close to the Egyptian border. However, the Israeli military has said residents should move to Deir al-Balaf as it prepares to carry out operations in parts of al-Mawashi as well.
Fighting in Khan Yunis and Deir al-Balaf has already caused tens of thousands of people to flee into the Rafah area. The United Nations says more than 1 million people are “crammed into extremely densely populated areas.”
According to the United Nations, some 1.7 million people, more than 75% of the Gaza Strip’s population, were already registered as refugees before the Israeli military threatened to evacuate the north.
The United Nations defines Palestinian refugees as people whose “place of residence was in Palestine between June 1, 1946 and May 15, 1948, and who lost both their home and livelihood as a result of the 1948 war.” Defined. Palestinian refugee children can also apply for asylum.
Most of Gaza’s residents were forced to flee their homes.
More than 500,000 of these Palestinian refugees were already staying in eight refugee camps in the Gaza Strip.
Following Israel’s warning, the number of evacuees increased rapidly. According to the United Nations, 1.9 million people have been forced to flee their homes since October 7.
Before the conflict, Gaza’s average population density was 5,700 people per square kilometer, about the same as London’s average. But in the most densely populated city, Gaza City, there were 9,000 people per square kilometer.
With Gaza residents fleeing to the south, Rafah’s population density now exceeds 12,000 people per square kilometer, the United Nations says.
The United Nations has warned that overcrowding is a major problem in emergency shelters in central and southern Gaza, with some places far exceeding capacity.
“UNRWA’s overcrowded and unsanitary shelters are now home to 1.4 million people,” said Philippe Lazzarini, executive director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
“Everything is lacking, from food to hygiene to privacy. People are living in inhumane conditions. Diseases are spreading to children. I am living.”
Many of these emergency shelters use school facilities, with some having dozens of people living in a single classroom. Some families have built tents or makeshift shelters on the grounds, while others are living in desolate areas without a roof.
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Gazans receiving food aid in Deir al-Balaf, central Gaza
Israel has continued to carry out airstrikes across the Gaza Strip, saying it has used more than 10,000 bombs and missiles. These attacks cause significant damage to buildings and infrastructure.
Officials in the Gaza Strip say more than 50% of homes in the area have been destroyed, rendered uninhabitable or otherwise damaged since the start of the conflict. More than 500,000 people have been left homeless, and many more are unable to return home immediately following the conflict due to damage to surrounding infrastructure.
The image below was created by Corey Scheer of the City University of New York Graduate Center and Hamon van den Hoek of Oregon State University, who analyzed satellite images. It shows which urban areas have suffered intensive damage since the start of the conflict.
According to Scheer and Hawke, 138,000 buildings were damaged across the Gaza Strip. The attacks were particularly concentrated in the north and Gaza City, with at least 70% of buildings damaged in the two northern regions. Additionally, 56% of buildings in Khan Yunis have been damaged.
In addition, many medical facilities are unable to function due to bombing damage and fuel shortages.
Hospital capacity in the Gaza Strip has been halved, from 3,500 beds before October 7 to around 1,000 beds, according to the United Nations, and there are “very few” functioning hospitals in the north.
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In southern Rafah, many people are living in temporary evacuation tents.
More than 1,200 Israelis and foreigners were killed in the October 7 Hamas attack. According to the Hamas-run Gaza Strip’s health ministry, 23,000 Palestinians, including about 8,000 children, have been killed since the Israeli offensive began.
It is difficult for the BBC to verify or confirm this figure. But the World Health Organization (WHO) says there is no reason to think these numbers are inaccurate.
Israel is conducting a “total domination” operation in Gaza, along with airstrikes. Once ground operations began, power, food and fuel supplies were cut off.
The IDF began ground operations along the coast in the northwest of the Gaza Strip and advanced to the northeast near Beit Hanoun. A few days later, it divided the Gaza Strip south of Gaza City.
Armored bulldozers cleared a path for tanks and troops to clear out strongholds of Hamas fighters in the northern Gaza Strip.
After dividing the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces advanced further into Gaza City, where they faced resistance from Hamas. Analysts at the US Institute of War believe Israeli forces are gaining control of the northern Gaza Strip, although there are clashes in some areas.
The image below, released by the IDF, shows tanks and armored bulldozers parked on a beach near Gaza City.
Photos taken on the same beach last summer show people enjoying a hot day in Gaza. Families are splashing in the sea or sitting with fans spread out along the beach.
Even before the current conflict began, 80% of Gazans were in need of humanitarian assistance. Although Israel acknowledges that aid is being routed through Egypt, aid agencies point out that there is simply not enough.
According to the United Nations’ World Food Program (WFP), half of Gaza’s residents are hungry, and 90% of them regularly go without food for an entire day.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), an average of 170 trucks and 110,000 liters of fuel were brought into Gaza a day during the seven-day temporary ceasefire at the end of November last year.
Trucks carrying relief supplies are still entering the Gaza Strip. But the WHO said aid “continues to face near-insurmountable challenges” as the region endures heavy shelling, movement restrictions, communications blackouts and fuel shortages.
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2024-01-19 06:40:19
