Gaza - New York: Europe and the Arabs
The United Nations warned that the situation in Gaza is deteriorating hour by hour, renewing its call for immediate protection of civilians. It emphasized that issuing orders to evacuate does not absolve parties to the conflict of their responsibilities to protect civilians during hostilities. According to the UN daily news bulletin, a copy of which we received Thursday morning,
the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that the Israeli army issued an order on Wednesday for residents to leave Gaza City within the next 48 hours and move south through a temporary corridor on Salah al-Din Road, which runs through the center of the Gaza Strip.
According to the UN office, thousands of people continue to flee amid active hostilities and congested roads, while people suffer from hunger and children are traumatized. On Monday and Tuesday, UN partners monitoring the movement of people in Gaza recorded nearly 40,000 displacements southward. From mid-August until Tuesday, approximately 200,000 displacements were recorded, with many women, children, and the elderly forced to walk for hours.
OCHA reported that the Ministry of Health in Gaza informed it that Al-Rantisi Pediatric Hospital in Gaza City was damaged after being hit by multiple airstrikes last night, Tuesday. There were 80 patients at the facility, including 12 children and infants in intensive care. Half of the patients and their caregivers were forced to flee, under bombardment, in search of "elusive safety," according to OCHA.
Women Giving Birth in the Streets
Meanwhile, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) warned that the Israeli offensive on Gaza is forcing women to give birth in the streets, without hospitals, doctors, or clean water. The agency says 23,000 women are living without care, and approximately 15 babies are born each week without any medical assistance. UN humanitarian partners reported that since the ceasefire collapsed in March, 80 medical points and primary health care centers providing sexual and reproductive health services to patients have been damaged, and 65 of them are out of service.
In a related development, the Palestinian Telecommunications Company reported today a complete internet outage throughout Gaza City and the north, preventing residents and humanitarian workers from accessing vital information.
UN humanitarian partners have established three support points in areas receiving internally displaced persons in southern Gaza to assist separated children, orphans, and the injured. They reported that the heavy shelling of Gaza City is exacerbating the suffering of the people, especially children.
On Tuesday, two humanitarian movements to collect food shipments from crossings into Gaza were cancelled or denied. Other missions were facilitated but encountered obstacles on the ground. The Zikim crossing remains closed for the fifth consecutive day, according to OCHA. From the Gaza Strip, a UNICEF spokesperson said the forced mass displacement of families is a "deadly threat to the most vulnerable," as bombs continue to fall on Gaza City as part of the escalating Israeli military operation.
This follows reports that the Israeli military has escalated its ground offensive on Gaza City and ordered residents to leave the area. Speaking to reporters in Geneva from the southern Gaza Strip, UNICEF spokesperson Tess Ingram said Palestinian families and their hungry children are being pushed south from one "hell" to another.
"It is inhuman to expect nearly half a million children, who have already suffered violence and trauma from more than 700 days of ongoing conflict, to flee one hell only to end up in another," she said.
The UN Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territory stressed the need for "the Israeli authorities to urgently end the systematic practice of torture and other ill-treatment of Palestinians detained in its prisons and other places of detention, and to protect and guarantee their right to life." In a press release, the office said that Israeli authorities "deliberately imposed" detention conditions that amounted to torture and other ill-treatment, contributing to the deaths of detainees, while "a culture of impunity and the denial of access to the International Committee of the Red Cross" fostered extreme violence against Palestinians in Israeli prisons.
The UN Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territory said that the Israeli authorities must immediately comply with the Israeli Supreme Court's September 7 ruling ordering the state to improve the quantity and quality of food provided to Palestinian detainees.
The office noted that the court confirmed that the conditions deliberately imposed by the Israeli authorities fail to meet basic nutritional standards.
The human rights office reported that at least 75 Palestinians—including a 17-year-old child—died in Israeli detention between October 7, 2023, and August 31, 2025, including 49 from Gaza, 24 from the West Bank, and two Palestinians with Israeli citizenship.
The Office noted that it had documented Israel's systematic use of torture and ill-treatment against Palestinian prisoners, including repeated beatings, waterboarding, rape and other sexual and gender-based violence, and the deliberate imposition of inhumane conditions such as starvation and denial of clean clothing, hygiene items, and medical care.
The UN Office stated that torture and other forms of ill-treatment constitute a serious violation of international humanitarian law and international human rights law. These practices also constitute a war crime and may, in some cases, amount to a crime against humanity. It emphasized that Israel has an obligation to end all such practices and protect all detainees from them.