No safe zones for Palestinians in Southern Gaza: UNICEF

Geneva: The United Nations Children s Fund (UNICEF) confirmed Friday that there are no safe places for Palestinians forcibly displaced from Gaza City...

Geneva: 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.

Speaking to journalists in Geneva, UNICEF spokesperson James Elder stated that the idea of a safe zone in the south is a farce.

Reporting from Deir Al Balah in central Gaza, Elder described the situation as dire, bombs fall from the sky at a terrifyingly predictable pace. Schools designated as temporary shelters are routinely reduced to rubble, and tents are systematically incinerated by airstrikes.

Israeli forces have compelled Palestinians to relocate to what they call a humanitarian zone in Al Mawasi along the coast, claiming it would provide aid, medical care, and infrastructure. However, repeated airstrikes on the area, despite its designation as a safe zone, reveal a deliberate targeting of civilians, Elder said.

He emphasized that issuing a blanket evacuation order does not strip those who remain of their right to civilian protection, adding that so-called safe zones are also places of death.