(MENAFN- Gulf Times) The United Nations announced that the number of Palestinians displaced in Gaza as a result of the ongoing Israeli aggression has exceeded 796,000 people since mid-March.

UN Associate Spokesperson for the Secretary-General Daniela Gross said in a press statement that forced displacement has continued to rise amid ongoing Israeli attacks, with nearly 17,000 new displacements recorded between August 12 and 20. This brings the total number of people uprooted since mid-March to more than 796,000.

Gross added that 95% of these forced displacements have occurred in Gaza City, where residents have fled from the eastern neighborhoods toward the south and west to escape intensified Israeli bombardments.

Since August 11, Israeli forces have launched a large-scale offensive on the Zeitoun neighborhood in southeastern Gaza City. The assault has included the demolition of homes using booby-trapped robots, heavy artillery shelling, indiscriminate gunfire, and mass displacement - part of what Palestinian officials describe as an Israeli plan to gradually reoccupy the entire Gaza Strip, beginning with Gaza City.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) had earlier warned on July 20 that 88% of the Gaza Strip's total area of about 360 square kilometers- home to roughly 2.3 million Palestinians had been placed under Israeli evacuation orders, effectively mandating the forced displacement of civilians.

Since October 2023, the Israeli occupation has waged a relentless assault on the Gaza Strip, defying repeated international appeals and binding rulings by the International Court of Justice to cease its military operations.

According to official Palestinian sources, the aggression has so far claimed the lives of 62,192 people, left 157,114 injured, the majority women and children and more than 9,000 missing beneath the rubble of destroyed buildings. Hundreds of thousands remain displaced, while a worsening famine has already claimed 271 lives, including 112 children.

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