Gaza: New Israeli orders force thousands in Deir al-Balah to flee again, and disrupt last aid hub

New displacement orders issued by Israeli authorities have forced another mass movement of families and humanitarian workers from areas in Deir al-Balah - one of the only remaining areas in the occupied Gaza Strip with essential infrastructure and warehouses storing aid supplies.

Many Palestinian families, already forcibly displaced countless times since October, are on the move yet again, including humanitarian workers critical to providing the limited aid response that is still possible.

At least 24 NGOs have reported impacts from orders in the past week resulting in the forced displacement of staff members, operations disrupted, and at least one site sheltering civilians under attack. Warehouses storing supplies are located within the  blocks that have come under orders that are resulting in forcible displacement.

So-called ‘“evacuation” orders issued by Israeli authorities on 13, 15, 16  and 21 August continue to obstruct aid operations, affecting a number of agencies including Save the Children, Mercy Corps, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), MSF, Solidarités International, Medical Aid for Palestinians, Oxfam, Humanity & Inclusion, Action Against Hunger, Islamic Relief, Project HOPE,  DanChurchAid and Norwegian Church Aid and partners, and Palestinian partners of ActionAid, War Child, Danish Refugee Council, Médicos del Mundo, Middle East Children’s Alliance and WeWorld.

A shelter belonging to ANERA has come under fire, while NRC has waited more than 15 days for the Israeli authorities to respond to a request to deconflict an area where they seek to relocate staff following Israel’s latest displacement order.

The UN said that multiple orders issued by Israeli forces in Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah between 8 and 17 August impacted 17 health facilities, including five primary healthcare centres and nine medical points, disrupting essential health services. Disruptions will also threaten the ability to administer critically needed polio vaccines once they arrive in Gaza.

Communities are cut off from vital aid, as suppliers who deliver essential items like water, face challenges reaching locations close to the areas which people have been ordered to leave.

Humanitarian actors must be allowed to deliver aid based on need rather than the designation of safe areas by a party to the conflict.

“Even if Israeli authorities let polio vaccines in, with the biggest responders in Gaza constantly pin-balled from one place to the next, how can we deliver an effective campaign and reach the children in dire need of that protection? If you want to understand the access situation, this is it - not the trickle of trucks exceptionally allowed to enter.” said Jeremy Stoner, Save the Children Regional Director for the Middle East.

“Palestinians in Gaza have been relentlessly uprooted, forced from one so-called 'safe' area to the next, enduring unimaginable hardship and loss. Among them are brave humanitarian workers who risk their lives every day to save others. Our ability to provide meaningful aid in any part of Gaza does not meet our ambitions, l let alone the overwhelming needs. Deir al-Balah, once declared a humanitarian zone, is now under attack with bombardment at our doorstep,” said Sally Abi Khalil, Oxfam’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

“We are a humanitarian organisation, trying to deliver humanitarian services in what Israel had unilaterally declared a ‘humanitarian zone’. These conditions don’t just punish us, they impact civilians in desperate need of assistance,” said Suze van Meegen, NRC’s acting Country Director in Palestine.

“The situation has become incredibly dangerous.  There's constant fighting, and the sounds of shelling and explosions are clearly audible. Skin diseases are spreading rapidly. We’re all becoming paranoid that we’ll get infected. The physical toll is real. I’ve been having severe stomach pains, likely from the contaminated water we’re forced to drink. I don’t know how much longer we can survive like this," said Lena*, Mercy Corps staff member in Gaza.

For more than 10 months, humanitarian organisations have called for an immediate and sustained ceasefire. Now the looming risk of a polio outbreak and urgent need to vaccinate children in Gaza makes this more urgent than ever.

All parties to conflict have an obligation to facilitate humanitarian access at all times. Israel as the occupying power is obligated to ensure that the humanitarian needs of the occupied population are met. This includes facilitating humanitarian aid and creating conditions that enable the safe provision of supplies, and has been ordered by the International Court of Justice in its provisional measures of 26 January and 24 May.

Rafah served as the main hub for Gaza’s strained aid operations until early May, when  Israeli forces expanded their ground operations there. Aid agencies were forced to move their operations to Deir al-Balah. With northern Gaza decimated, southern Gaza largely inaccessible, civilians and aid workers, and critically needed humanitarian operations,  now have nowhere left to go.