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The United Nations (UN) said on October 15 that Israel's evacuation request for Palestinians living in the northern Gaza Strip has caused a "massive exodus" to the southern part of the strip.
“Mass evacuations from the northern to southern Gaza Strip have been ongoing since the morning of October 13, after Israel ordered people to evacuate areas ahead of military operations,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a situation update. The number of displaced people has increased significantly in the past 24 hours, but the organization does not yet have a specific figure, according to OCHA.
Israel has previously ordered 1.1 million Palestinians to leave northern Gaza. The Israeli army said on October 15 it was ready for a ground offensive into Gaza to destroy Hamas.
In another notable development, humanitarian aid convoys are lining up near the Egyptian border, unable to enter the Gaza Strip to reach Palestinians, as the area is being bombed by Israel. The Rafah border crossing - the only non-Israeli-controlled entry point into the Gaza Strip - has been closed since October 10, following three Israeli airstrikes on Palestinian border posts within 24 hours.
Aid shipments from Jordan, Türkiye and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have now arrived at Egypt’s El Arish airport, 50 km west of Rafah. Along with them are medical supplies provided by the World Health Organization (WHO), enough to meet the needs of 300,000 people. The Egyptian government has sent a convoy of 100 trucks capable of carrying 1,000 tonnes of aid.
Israel, which controls the other two land crossings into Gaza, has declared a "total blockade" of the strip's sea lanes, cutting off food, water, fuel and electricity supplies to the 2.4 million people in the Palestinian-administered territory.
Meanwhile, Thai Labor Minister Pipat Ratchakitprakarn cited reports from the Thai Embassy in Israel on October 15 saying that 7,540 Thais have sent confirmation information, of which 7,446 intend to return home and 94 want to stay in Israel.
On the same day, Thai authorities welcomed a third group of 90 Thai workers returning from Israel on a commercial flight. Minister Pipat said another group of 137 people will return home on the morning of October 16 via a Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) plane.
Minister Pipat added that so far only 200 Thai workers can be repatriated because many lost their passports while seeking refuge during the Hamas-Israel conflict. The Thai Foreign Ministry is preparing 8,000 spare passports. It is expected that in the next 3-4 days, the Thai government will be able to repatriate 400 Thais per day and about 7,000 Thais who have registered for repatriation will be able to return home next month. Meanwhile, the Thai Labor Ministry has sent 5 more officials who used to live in Israel to help Thai workers, while the Foreign Ministry has sent 10 more officials to Israel.
According to Tin Tuc newspaper