UNICEF Warns Israel’s ‘Safe Zones’ in Gaza Risk Becoming ‘Zones of Disease’

UNICEF spokesperson James Elder has reported that Israel’s “safe zones” in Gaza are lacking water, sanitation, and shelter, and thus risk becoming “zones of disease.”

“The so-called safe zones… are not scientific, they are not rational, they are not possible, and I think the authorities are aware of this,” Elder told reporters in Geneva via video-link from Cairo.

The places people evacuated to must have sufficient resources for survival, including medical facilities, water and food, he said.

Elder revealed that in the overcrowded shelters, to which most of the displaced in Gaza have flocked, there had been around one toilet for every 400 people.

“Now remove those people and put them in … the so-called safe places. It’s tens of thousands of people without a single toilet — not one — no clean water, nothing to drink,” he said.

The official added that rather than being “safe zones,” the areas in question are only “free from bombardment.”

He also said that despite evacuation orders directing civilians to head to the Southern parts of the Gaza Strip, the level of destruction there was the same as what he saw in the North.

Israeli aggression has killed nearly 16,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October 7. Israel launched the attacks in response to a surprise attack by Hamas on its soil, in which nearly 1,200 people died.

International organizations have warned that safe places for civilians in Gaza to flee to are running out, as Israel deepens its offensive in the densely-populated territory, targeting civilian sites such as schools, hospitals, and residences.