The Hamas terrorist organization accused UNRWA, the UN agency for the descendants of the Arab refugees of the 1948 War of Independence, of "colluding" with Israel by assisting in the evacuation of civilians from northern Gaza.
Hamas media bureau chief Salama Maruf claimed that “UNRWA and its officials bear responsibility for this humanitarian catastrophe, in particular the residents of the Gaza City area and north of it.”
Maruf said that UNRWA is contributing to the "forced displacement" of civilians who are fleeing the fighting in northern Gaza.
In the weeks since the Hamas massacre of over 1,400 people in southern Israel on October 7, Israel has called on civilians in northern Gaza to evacuate to the southern part of the coastal enclave so as to not be caught in the war between Israel and the Hamas terrorist organization. Millions of phone calls have been made and tens of thousands of leaflets have been dropped on northern Gaza calling on civilians to leave the combat zones.
Hamas has demanded that civilians disregard Israel's warnings and remain in northern Gaza so that they can be used as human shields, both to prevent Israeli attacks on terrorist targets and so that Israel will be criticized internationally when civilians are killed in attacks on terrorist targets. The terrorist organization has used mosques, schools, hospitals, and other civilian sites as launching sites for firing rockets at Israel or to store weapons. The Al-Shifa hospital serves as the site of Hamas' headquarters.
Hamas has even shot and killed women and children in Gaza who were attempting to flee to the south in accordance with the Israeli warnings.