News - Middle East: The United Nations says it is “appalled” by the latest mass evacuation orders issued by Israel in the besieged Gaza Strip.

In a statement released on Thursday, the UN Human Rights Office said many of the civilians “have been forcibly displaced multiple times.”

They, the UN office said, have been ordered “to evacuate to areas where Israeli military operations are ongoing and where civilians continue to be killed and injured.”

The office said those who had been told to head west out of central Gaza City on Monday were caught up in new fighting as the Israeli regime “intensified its strikes in the south and west of Gaza City, targeting the very areas where they had instructed people to move to.”

Israel extended its evacuation warning to cover much of Gaza’s main city on Monday.

Israel has now issued three evacuation orders for Gaza City and one for the south of the Palestinian territory.

Gaza City residents have now been told to move to the central district of Deir al-Balah, which, the UN office said, “is already seriously overcrowded with Palestinians displaced from other areas of the Gaza Strip.”

The residents reported “explosions and numerous gun battles” and helicopter strikes through the night in southwestern neighborhoods.

Nebal Farsakh, spokesman for the Palestine Red Crescent Society, has said Israel’s latest evacuation orders in Gaza City put all of the medical facilities affiliated with the medical charity out of service.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Israel’s latest evacuation orders impact more than 60 schools where displaced Palestinians are sheltering, as well as two hospitals, six medical points and two primary healthcare centers.