WASHIGNTON

Israel displaced at least 60,000 people from Gaza City on Thursday, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Friday.

"Humanitarian partners are reporting new displacement ... Yesterday, the Israeli military ordered people living in 28 residential blocks in areas east of Gaza City to immediately evacuate ... at least 60,000 people were displaced from this area, which spans over seven square kilometers," Dujarric told reporters.

He added that an overnight military operation in the area of al-Mawasi of Rafah resulted in scores of casualties and displacement of at least 5,000 people.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023. Besides killing more than 37,700 Palestinians since then, the Israeli military campaign has turned much of the enclave of 2.3 million people into ruins, leaving most civilians homeless and at risk of famine.

Stressing that access constraints by Israel continue to "significantly" impede the delivery of essential humanitarian assistance and services across Gaza, Dujarric said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that as of Thursday, Israeli authorities had facilitated less than half of more than 100 planned humanitarian assistance missions coordinated to reach northern Gaza this month.

"The rest were either impeded, denied access, or canceled due to logistical, operational or security reasons," he added.

"Let's be honest, people are being displaced on a daily basis, especially in the Rafah and southern areas, but also in other areas," the spokesman said.