Gaza (TIP): The number of displaced people in Gaza has shot up from 3,000 before the recent violence to nearly 350,000 within less than a week. There were around 3,000 displaced people in Gaza before the recent violence. That rose to 40,000 within the first day and has since multiplied eight times to nearly 350,000. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) say they expect displacements – people forced to leave their homes – to increase further over the coming days.

Two-thirds of those who’ve left their homes – 218,597 of the 338,934 total – are being sheltered in 92 schools run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), according to Sky News. The British news channel quoted Mahmoud Shalabi, a Palestinian living in north Gaza, and a senior programme manager for Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), as saying that those shelters are ill-equipped. The UN say they have already reached capacity and are now having to shelter people at their health centres instead, it added.

This leaves people to flee to the homes of friends or families instead if they can. Many have fled towards Gaza City, upon the advice of the Israeli government and because it’s usually the safest place to be.

Shalabi says that’s not the case this time. “It was recorded that 200 raids were fired towards the centre of Gaza City, which was considered as the safest part of Gaza for a very long time.

“The roads there are no longer usable, so it’s impossible to go there,” he was quoted as saying by Sky News.

Juliette Touma, director of communications for the UNRWA, told Sky News of the difficulties facing aid agencies trying to help people.

“This is unprecedented. The losses are huge. The destruction, including to UN buildings and facilities, is significant.”

Fourteen UN buildings have been damaged, including a headquarters building which sustained collateral damage as a result of heavy airstrikes on buildings nearby, Sky News quoted her as saying. ((NIE)