90 percent of Gaza residents displaced by Israel's evacuation orders: UN

Around 90 percent of residents in the Gaza Strip have been displaced by successive evacuation orders from Israel following the start of its war with Hamas last year, according to the United Nations.

"Mass evacuations in Gaza choke survival and severely constrain aid operations," Muhannad Hadi, a top U.N. official, was quoted saying in a Thursday post on X from the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The U.N. official warned that evacuation orders are endangering civilians in the enclave. 

“They are forcing families to flee again, often under fire and with the few belongings they can carry with them, into an ever-shrinking area,” Hadi said on Thursday, according to The Associated Press.

“The way forward is as clear as it is urgent: Protect civilians, release the hostages, facilitate humanitarian access, agree on a cease-fire,” Hadi said in a statement, according to the AP. 

The frequent evacuations, 12 of which occurred in August, are a threat to U.N. humanitarian workers in Gaza, Stephane Dujarric, the U.N. spokesperson, said, according to the AP.

Dujarric stated the World Food Program (WFP) does not have access to a warehouse in Deir al-Balah. Israel ordered evacuation orders in Deir al-Balah, along with parts of Khan Younis, a city in the southern part of the strip and the Al-Maghazi refugee camp. 

The cease-fire talks have resumed this week. They are being mediated by the U.S., Egypt and Qatar. One major point of disagreement is long-term control of the Philadelphi corridor in southern Gaza, which Israel currently controls. 

The war in the region began on Oct. 7 after the Palestinian militant group Hamas killed around 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in Israel. They also took around 250 hostages, a third of them are believed to be dead.

In response, the Israeli military started their offensive that, so far, has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities that do not distinguish between combatants and civilians.