UN humanitarians expressed deep concern on Tuesday over the impact of Israel's order for tens of thousands of Gazans to evacuate 117 square kilometers in the Khan Younis and Rafah governorates.

Sigrid Kaag, the UN Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza, stated that 1.9 million people – 80 percent of the territory's population – are now displaced. She added that she was "deeply concerned" by reports of new evacuation orders for southern Gaza.

On Monday, the Israeli army issued an evacuation order for neighborhoods and areas in the cities of Khan Younis and Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip as it carried out renewed attacks in the area.

The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) estimated on Tuesday that 250,000 people will have to flee Khan Younis, just weeks after they were forced to return to the devastated area. More than 90 schools, many of which host displaced people, as well as four medical points and the European Gaza Hospital that serves both Khan Younis and Rafah, are affected by the evacuation, according to UNRWA.

The new evacuation order, covering about one-third of the Gaza Strip, is the most significant since the order to evacuate northern Gaza in October, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported.

"Wherever people flee to, they will arrive scarred and traumatized. They will face a lack of food, drinking water, sanitation, health care, and the prospect of needing to flee again," International Committee of the Red Cross said on Tuesday. It warned that residents in the Gaza Strip have no safe place due to the Israeli war.

Israel's latest evacuation order came hours after the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement, claimed responsibility for launching 20 rockets at southern Israel.

After issuing the order, Israeli forces bombarded several areas as thousands of Palestinians fled their homes in southern Gaza.

In a press statement issued on Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces said it continued its operations in northern Gaza's Shejaiya neighborhood, the southern Gaza city of Rafah, and central Gaza.

During the past 24 hours, the Israeli military killed 25 people and wounded 81 others, bringing the total Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 37,925 and injuries to 87,141 since the Palestinian-Israeli conflict broke out in early October 2023, according to a statement from Gaza-based health authorities on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Yemen's Houthi group and the Islamic Resistance in Iraq launched cruise missiles at the Israeli city of Haifa on Tuesday.

"The joint military operation targeting a vital target in Haifa with several cruise missiles. The operation achieved its goals successfully," Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said in a statement aired by the Houthi-run al-Masirah TV.

He vowed to launch more attacks against Israel until the war in the Gaza Strip stops.

In response, the U.S.-British naval coalition has been conducting air raids and missile strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen since January, but so far, it has failed to deter the group from launching further attacks on Israeli targets and ships in the Red Sea.

(With input from agencies)