More than 123,000 people displaced in the Gaza Strip, says UN as Israel continues bombardment

Jerusalem: More than 123,000 people have been displaced in the Gaza Strip since the outbreak of the conflict between Palestinian fighters and Israel, the United Nations said on Monday.

“Over 123,538 people, have been internally displaced in Gaza, mostly due to fear, protection concerns and the destruction of their homes,” said the UN’s humanitarian agency, OCHA.

Smoke rise above buildings during an Israeli air strike, in Gaza City on October 9, 2023. — AFP

More than 73,000 are sheltering in schools, OCHA said, some of which have been designated emergency shelters.

Israel has launched hundreds of strikes on Gaza since Saturday, when Hamas fighters launched attacks in Israel and fired thousands of rockets at the country.

Adnan Abu Hasna, a spokesman for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), said he expected the numbers to rise further.

Palestinians inspect the destruction around Ahmed Yassin mosque, which was levelled by Israeli airstrikes, in Gaza City early on October 9, 2023.—Photo by Mohammed Abed / AFP)

“There’s electricity in these schools, we provide them with a meal, clean water, psychological support and medical treatment,” he told AFP.

Gaza is home to 2.3 million Palestinians, who have lived under a crippling Israeli blockade imposed after Hamas took power in 2007.

At least seven Palestinians were killed in two Israeli air strikes on two houses in Gaza, according to medics. Israeli planes also carried out dozens of air strikes, many in the northern town of Beit Hanoun. The Associated Press reported that 19 members of a single family were killed in one such strike.

Palestinians inspect damages in the aftermath of Israeli strikes, following a Hamas surprise attack, at Beach refugee camp, in Gaza City, October 9, 2023. — Reuters

Israeli strikes on Sunday hit housing blocks, tunnels, a mosque and homes of Hamas officials in Gaza. The region’s health ministry said at least 493 Palestinians, including scores of children, have been killed and 2,751 wounded in air strikes on the blockaded enclave since Saturday.

Palestinians evacuate their homes after Israeli strikes on Gaza City on October 9, 2023. —AFP)

“The price the Gaza Strip will pay will be a very heavy one that will change reality for generations,” said Defence Minister Yoav Gallant in the town of Ofakim, which suffered casualties and had hostages taken.
Israeli military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus said the country had called in around 100,000 soldiers.

“Our job is to make sure that at the end of this war, Hamas will no longer have any military capabilities to threaten Israeli civilians with, and in addition to that we also need to make sure Hamas will not govern the Gaza Strip,” he said.

A military spokesperson said fighting was ongoing at seven or eight locations near Gaza two days after Hamas fighters killed 700 Israelis and abducted dozens more in the deadliest raid into Israeli territory since Egypt and Syria’s attacks in the Yom Kippur war 50 years ago.

Hamas fighters also continued to cross into Israel from Gaza, the spokesman said.

Fighter jets, helicopters and artillery struck over 500 Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets in the Gaza Strip overnight, with targets including Hamas and Islamic Jihad command centres and the residence of senior Hamas official Ruhi Mashtaa who allegedly helped direct the infiltration into Israel.

Oil prices were up more than $3 a barrel in Asian trade on Monday as the violence deepened political uncertainty across the Middle East and raised concerns about supplies from Iran.

Iran is an ally of Hamas and while it congratulated Hamas on the attack, its mission to the United Nations said Tehran was not involved in the attacks.

Rescuers remove a casualty on a stretcher from under the rubble of a house destroyed in Israeli strikes, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip October 9, 2023.— Reuters

Any sustained rally in oil prices would act as a tax on consumers and add to global inflationary pressures, which weighed on equities as S&P 500 futures shed 0.7pc and Nasdaq futures lost 0.6pc.

Several international air carriers have suspended flight services with Tel Aviv in light of the Hamas attack, saying they are waiting for conditions to improve before resuming. Beyond blockaded Gaza, Israeli forces and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah militia exchanged artillery and rocket fire on Sunday, while in Egypt, two Israeli tourists were shot dead along with a guide.

Appeals for restraint came from around the world, though Western nations largely stood by Israel.
The Palestinian foreign ministry denounced what it called a “barbarous campaign of death and destruction” by Israel.

“As an occupying power, Israel has no right or justification to target the defenceless civilian population in Gaza or elsewhere in Palestine,” it said on Sunday.

In southern Israel, Hamas gunmen were still fighting Israeli security forces after their surprise assault with rocket barrages and bands of gunmen who overran army bases and invaded border towns.

“It’s taking more time than we expected to get things back into a defensive, security posture,” Lt Col Richard Hecht told a briefing with journalists.