Gaza: The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) confirmed Friday that there are no safe places for Palestinians forcibly displaced from Gaza City by Israeli forces. The areas designated for them in the southern Gaza Strip are nothing more than places of death, the organization warned.
According to Qatar News Agency, UNICEF spokesperson James Elder addressed journalists in Geneva, describing the notion of a safe zone in southern Gaza as a farce. Elder, reporting from Deir Al Balah in central Gaza, depicted a dire situation where bombs fall from the sky with alarming regularity. Schools designated as temporary shelters are routinely destroyed, and tents are often incinerated by airstrikes.
Israeli forces have urged Palestinians to relocate to a so-called humanitarian zone in Al Mawasi along the coast, with promises of aid, medical care, and infrastructure. However, Elder revealed that airstrikes continue to target this area, despite its designation as a safe zone, indicating a deliberate targeting of civilians.
Elder emphasized that issuing a blanket evacuation order does not negate the rights of those who remain to civilian protection. He added that these so-called safe zones are, in reality, places of death. Al Mawasi has become one of the most densely populated areas globally, severely overcrowded and lacking basic survival necessities.
The UN began challenging the concept of unilaterally declared safe zones in late 2023, Elder recalled, citing clear legal obligations. As the occupying power, Israel is responsible for ensuring that safe zones provide essentials like food, shelter, and sanitation, none of which are adequately available.
Initially, it was assumed that these zones would not be bombed. However, over the past 18 months, Elder stressed, they have been targeted multiple times, with displaced people in tents experiencing airstrikes.
In a related context, Elder highlighted the dire conditions for mothers and newborns in Gaza, amid severe shortages of medical supplies and overcrowding at Nasser Medical Complex in the south. He noted that the situation for mothers and newborns in Gaza has never been worse, with hallways at Nasser Hospital packed with women who have just given birth.
Since Israel’s intensified bombardment of Gaza began in August ahead of its ground offensive, military pressure on Palestinians to move south has persisted, despite the lack of safety or protection in those areas.