The UN agency chief claims 800,000 people have fled Rafah since Israeli operations began

The head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) estimates that since Israeli forces began combat operations in the area on May 6, almost 800,000 people—nearly half of Rafah's population—have been displaced.

Palestinians have been forced to evacuate multiple times since the battle in Gaza started, "never finding safety, not even in UNRWA shelters," the agency's commissioner general, Philippe Lazzarini, stated in a post on X on Saturday.

In addition, he added that there are only "a small trickle of aid trucks entering the strip amid the growing humanitarian needs and mass displacement."

Lazzarini's remarks are in line with a warning issued by another UN agency on Friday, stating in a study that Gazans are facing a "dire" food crisis due to Israel's harsh restrictions on assistance supplies to the territory.