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Gazans again forced to flee encampments following Israeli evacuation orders

China

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China

Gazans again forced to flee encampments following Israeli evacuation orders

2024-08-12 15:45 Last Updated At:23:47

Israeli army expanded evacuation orders on Sunday, forcing residents to leave the Al Jalaa neighborhood of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, which has been reclassified from a "safe humanitarian zone" to a combat zone.

This marks the fourth evacuation order issued by the army this month, following similar orders on the previous Sunday, Monday and Thursday, resulting in the further displacement of residents. In one community housing over ten thousand, residents are hurriedly packing their belongings and navigating debris-strewn streets after Israeli military aircraft distributed new evacuation orders. The orders declared the area no longer a "humanitarian zone," forcing residents to relocate to a designated "safe zone" several kilometers away.

The relentless and repeated displacements throughout the ten months of conflict have left residents in a continuous state of suffering, prompting calls for the international community to intervene and end the ongoing crisis. Many displaced by this latest order have already been shuffled across the embattled enclave.

"I have been displaced many times—it's not just once or twice, but at least five or six times. Almost as soon as we arrive somewhere, they [the Israeli military] order us to leave. I just arrived here and set up a tent two days ago, and now they are telling us to leave again. I have just arrived here. I have nowhere to go," said Ahmed, a displaced resident.

"We are fleeing every day. We stayed here only ten days before being forced to leave again. We are almost devastated, with no place to go. Our only hope is for the war to end; we don’t ask for anything else. People don't know where to go, and neither do I," said Ali, another resident.

Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), said on X on Sunday that more than 75,000 people have been displaced in the southwest Gaza Strip just in the past few days.

Gazans again forced to flee encampments following Israeli evacuation orders

Gazans again forced to flee encampments following Israeli evacuation orders

Gazans again forced to flee encampments following Israeli evacuation orders

Gazans again forced to flee encampments following Israeli evacuation orders

Gazans again forced to flee encampments following Israeli evacuation orders

Gazans again forced to flee encampments following Israeli evacuation orders

Gazans again forced to flee encampments following Israeli evacuation orders

Gazans again forced to flee encampments following Israeli evacuation orders

The high-quality development of east China's Shandong Province featuring innovation and green development has been providing opportunities to foreigners ranging from business promoters to even internet influencers.

As leader in the country's foreign trade, the coastal province of Shandong has been making consistent efforts to push forward its high-level opening-up.

In the first half of this year, Shandong imported and exported 1.62 trillion yuan (230 billion U.S. dollars) worth of goods, marking a 4.3-percent year-over-year increase, according to the customs data released in mid-July.

The province's export to regions like the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the European Union (EU), South Korea, and Brazil continued growing during the period.

Ryan Norman, an American living in Rizhao City, has been witnessing all the changes for years as Shandong's close economic ties with the world have boosted its development.

By sharing short videos of him wondering in local markets and making dishes in a big wok, Ryan has attracted over one million followers on social media.

"I am Ryan Norman, an American from California. Now I am married with a Rizhao woman. I have been in China for 19 years. I did some business before, but in recent years I've been making short videos. If the weather is good, staying on beach makes me happier. There is a 28-kilometer sunshine seaside track and every summer, we run back and forth along the track," he said.

The high-quality development of Shandong comes together with green development. In 2023, the province generated over 158 billion kilowatt-hours of green power from new energy and renewables, increasing by 21.9 percent year on year and representing 24.4 percent of the total power generated, up 3.6 percent from 2022.

Last year, the province issued a three-year action plan on promoting green and low-carbon high-quality development, as the province is set to pursue a deep integration of culture and tourism.

"As the environment is getting better and better, more locals like to visit our tea tourism cultural park and its good reputation has attracted droves of tourists," said Yan Zaoning, director of a local tea park.

Sebastian Valcic from Germany now works in an innovation zone in Jinan, the provincial capital of Shandong. He said in recent years, he witnessed over 500 enterprises from countries like Germany, France, Finland, and Japan setting branches in the innovation zone, and these changes boosted his confidence in China's high-quality development.

"Thanks to the institutional and mechanism reform of the Jinan Innovation Zone, I, as a German, can have the opportunity to join the investment promotion department of the Jinan Innovation Zone management committee. I am responsible for attracting global investment. Over the recent years, our team has signed over 100 projects. The Jinan Innovation Zone is a national new- and high-tech development zone, a free trade zone, a comprehensive bonded zone, a pilot zone for upgrading development engine, and a sci-tech innovation financial reform pilot zone. The innovation zone has so many institutional innovations and preferential policies for expanding opening-up. Every time we have an investment promotion event, I always want the investors to know how special here is," said Sebastian Valcic, an external liaison officer of the management committee's investment promotion department.

Apart from attracting investment, Sebastian Valcic said his team will also work to connect enterprises so that they can cooperate with potential partners up and down the industrial chain.

"We will introduce companies up and down the industrial chain to the enterprises so that they can connect, communicate, and cooperate with one another," he said.

According to its three-year action plan, Shandong will continue to enhance the quality and level of its trade and investment by enhancing the efficiency of using foreign investment and deepening international economic and trade cooperation.

Shandong high-quality development provides opportunities to international firms, individuals

Shandong high-quality development provides opportunities to international firms, individuals

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