The United Nations says 86 percent of the besieged Gaza Strip is now under Israeli evacuation orders as 33 more Palestinians are killed in another day of attacks and displacement.
Thousands of Palestinians fled the Bureij and Nuseirat refugee camps in central Gaza on Monday after the Israeli army issued new evacuation orders.
“We were moved from the north. They told us: ‘Go to the centre of Gaza and then to Rafah’. We went to Rafah and then went back to Nuseirat. We were trapped. Then we were instructed to move further south, towards Al-Mawasi,” Mohammed Naserallah, a displaced Palestinian, told Al Jazeera.
“Our life is in pieces. We have nothing and no one but God.”
Philippe Lazzarini, head of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said 86 percent of the besieged enclave was under evacuation orders issued by the Israeli military.
Kahder Baroud, a blind Palestinian wearing black sunglasses, said he received a call from the Israeli army to leave his home in Nuseirat on Sunday.
“We are already struggling with our situation because my daughters and sons are also blind… We live in fear, in terrifying circumstances. We left home today.” [Monday]But we don't know where we can go now,” he said.
Reporting from Deir el-Balah, also in central Gaza, Al Jazeera's Hani Mahmoud said recurring mass displacements have become the norm within the Israeli military.
“The majority of the displaced population is flowing into Deir el-Balah city, which is already overcrowded with displaced families and does not have enough space or resources to accommodate people,” he said.
In addition, schools that have become shelters for displaced people have been attacked.
“The attacks on schools over the past two days have destroyed any sense of security left for people in evacuation centres and pushed them into further forced internal displacement. There is literally no safe place in Gaza,” he said.
Meanwhile, at least three people were killed and others wounded when the Israeli army again shelled al-Mawasi, an area in southern Gaza previously declared a “safe zone” by Israel.
Gaza authorities said 33 Palestinians were killed in the enclave on Monday, bringing the death toll since October to 39,363 and more than 90,000 people wounded.
An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led attacks on October 7 and more than 200 were taken prisoner.
'Polio endemic zone'
The relentless Israeli offensive has also worsened Gaza's health emergency, with the Health Ministry declaring it a “polio endemic zone” on Monday.
In a statement on Telegram, the ministry said the situation “poses a threat to the health of residents of Gaza and neighboring countries.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) has also confirmed the spread of the potentially deadly polio virus, detecting it in sewage samples. Already scarce supplies of clean water in the densely populated Gaza Strip are at risk of being contaminated by the virus.
“This is just the beginning of the wave of disease that the Gaza Strip is going to face,” said Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, reporting from Deir-el Balah.
“Palestinians are living in makeshift tents with no toilets, no hygiene, no access to water or sanitation. There is sewage everywhere,” he said.
On Friday, the WHO said it was sending more than a million polio vaccines to Gaza to be administered in the coming weeks to prevent children from becoming infected.
The Israeli military also said it would begin offering the polio vaccine to soldiers in Gaza.
Also on Monday, Israel and Hamas traded blame over the lack of progress toward reaching a ceasefire agreement and releasing hostages in the Gaza Strip despite international mediation.
Hamas has accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of adding new conditions and demands to a US-backed truce proposal.
However, Netanyahu denied making any changes and said it was Hamas that was insisting on numerous changes to the original proposal.
