UN humanitarian operations in Gaza forced to halt: official

The United Nations said Monday it had been forced to halt its humanitarian operations in Gaza due to a new Israeli evacuation order for the Deir al-Balah area, a senior UN official said.

"We are not operating today. As of this morning, we're not operating in Gaza," the official said, adding that since the start of the war the UN has sometimes had to "delay or take a pause."

"This is not a decision that we're saying we're stopping to operate, but practically we cannot operate," the official said.

According to the official, the UN "had relocated most of our personnel in our operations" to Deir al-Balah following a Rafah evacuation order several months ago.

The Israeli military said on Monday it was targeting "terror operatives" in Deir al-Balah and working to dismantle the "remaining terrorist infrastructure" of Hamas, whose October 7 attack on southern Israel triggered the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military had told people Sunday to "evacuate immediately."

"We need to find solutions," the UN official said. "And if it means that we need to anchor down for 24-48 hours and reset, we do that. But we're not leaving.

"Right now the challenge is to find a place where we can reset and effectively operate."

Hamas's October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,199 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Israel's retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 40,435 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry, which does not break down civilian and militant deaths. The UN rights office says most of the dead are women and children.