The World Health Organization (WHO) has strongly condemned the latest Israeli military order demanding the mass evacuation of over one million Palestinians from Gaza City, calling it an unacceptable act of forced displacement that would create a humanitarian catastrophe.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced that the UN agency and its partners will continue operating in Gaza City and providing medical assistance to civilians.

“WHO is appalled by the latest evacuation order, demanding that one million people move from Gaza City to a so-called ‘humanitarian zone’ in the south designated by Israel,” Tedros said.

He warned that the area designated by the occupation is entirely inadequate to support the displaced. “The zone has neither the size nor scale of services to support those already there, let alone new arrivals,” he stressed, adding that abandoning Gaza City would have devastating consequences for public health and medical care.

“Almost half the functional hospitals are in Gaza City,” Tedros noted, warning that the forced transfer of patients, doctors, and staff could cost countless lives. He called on the international community to urgently intervene, demand an immediate ceasefire, and ensure protection for civilians, medical personnel, and humanitarian workers.

Despite relentless bombardment, more than 1.2 million Palestinians remain in Gaza City and northern Gaza, refusing to leave their homes and neighborhoods, according to the Government Media Office in Gaza.

In its statement, the office accused the Israeli occupation of implementing a policy of ethnic cleansing in violation of international law. “Israel is trying to impose a new Nakba on our people,” it said, urging the international community to stop the displacement campaign before it is too late.

Gaza City and northern Gaza together are home to over 1.3 million people, including around 398,000 in the North Gaza governorate and more than 914,000 in Gaza governorate. Thousands of families who were previously displaced to the south have begun returning to their homes despite the danger, with the media office reporting that over 12,000 people have gone back to the north in the past few days.

“This phenomenon of reverse displacement reflects the unbearable conditions in the south, where there is no adequate shelter, no food, and no clean water,” the statement said.

The office condemned Israel’s claim that al-Mawasi, a strip of land along the coast of Khan Younis and Rafah, is a safe haven. It revealed that nearly 800,000 people are crammed into the area under inhumane conditions.

“Al-Mawasi has been hit by 109 airstrikes, killing more than 2,000 Palestinians,” the statement said, noting that the area lacks hospitals, infrastructure, electricity, water, and sanitation. “This is not a safe zone. It is a death zone.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly threatened a major ground assault on Gaza City, boasting that his army has already destroyed 50 residential towers in just two days.

“I say to the residents of Gaza, you have been warned — leave now!” he declared, in remarks widely condemned by Palestinians as psychological warfare and collective punishment.

Analysts and Palestinian officials warn that such rhetoric signals preparations for a full-scale ground invasion, risking mass civilian casualties in one of the most densely populated areas in the world.

Human rights organizations and Palestinian leaders are urging the international community to take immediate action to stop what they describe as a campaign of genocide. They argue that forced displacement, indiscriminate bombings, and the targeting of “safe zones” constitute grave breaches of international humanitarian law.

“The people of Gaza will not be driven out of their land,” a Gaza City resident said during a protest on Tuesday. “We survived the Nakba of 1948. We will survive this too.”

With hospitals near collapse, food supplies dwindling, and Israeli threats escalating, the WHO’s decision to remain in Gaza City is seen by many as a lifeline — and a rare act of defiance by an international body in the face of what Palestinians call Israel’s systematic attempt to empty Gaza of its population. (ILKHA)