The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said that nearly 450,000 people have been forcibly displaced from Rafah since the first evacuation order was issued on the sixth of this month.

It added in a statement issued today, Tuesday, that citizens face constant exhaustion, hunger, and fear, and the streets of the city of Rafah have become empty, while families continue to flee in search of safety.

It pointed to the bombings and other evacuation orders in northern Gaza that led to further displacement and fear among thousands of families.

UNRWA confirmed that there is nowhere to go, and that there is no safety without a ceasefire.

It stressed that restricting humanitarian access is a matter of life or death for people in the Gaza Strip, who are already suffering from continuous bombing and food insecurity.

UNRWA stressed the immediate and urgent need for safe passage for humanitarian aid and its workers.

The Israeli occupation forces continue to close the Rafah border crossing and the Karam Abu Salem commercial crossing in the southern Gaza Strip, amid warnings of an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.

These forces expanded their ground and air attacks in all governorates of the Gaza Strip after demanding the displacement of people from large areas in Jabalia, north of the Strip, and east and south of the city of Rafah, and their incursion into the south of Gaza City and east of Khan Yunis.