Gaza: Over one million people face relocation to overcrowded zone

GAZA, (The Palestinian Information Center) Gaza’s civil defense service has warned of Israeli efforts to evacuate tens of thousands of citizens from Gaza City and northern areas and force them to go to the central and southern parts of the territory.

Spokesman for the civil defense Mahmoud Basal told a news conference on Tuesday that the Israeli plan to forcibly relocate about one million people from their homes in Gaza City and northern Gaza would lead to a major catastrophe.

Basal said that the Israeli occupation army had already destroyed over 85 percent of the homes and infrastructure in Gaza City’s ash-Shuja’iya and al-Tuffah neighborhoods, and about 70 percent of the az-Zeitoun, al-Sabra, Jabalia an-Nazla and Jabalia al-Balad areas.

Basal pointed out that several reports issued by international and UN organization confirm that the so-called humanitarian zone, where the Israeli army plans to relocate the population, comprises no more than 12 percent of the total area of the Gaza Strip.

“This would mean forcing over two million Palestinians to live in a densely packed area lacking the minimum living means,” he said.