UN Says 'Not Possible' to Create Safe Zones in Gaza

Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, December 4. REUTERS
Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, December 4. REUTERS
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UN Says 'Not Possible' to Create Safe Zones in Gaza

Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, December 4. REUTERS
Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, December 4. REUTERS

The United Nations warns that it is impossible to create so-called safe zones for civilians to flee to inside the Gaza Strip amid Israel's bombing campaign.

Israel declared war on Hamas after the militant group's October 7 attacks that killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli authorities.

The health ministry in Gaza says the war has killed nearly 15,900 people in the territory.

James Elder, spokesperson for the United Nations children's agency UNICEF, said the areas of Gaza designated as safe by Israel were nowhere near meeting basic requirements, warning an absence of sanitation and shelter have created a "perfect storm" for outbreaks of disease.

"It's a safe zone when you can guarantee the conditions of food, water, medicine and shelter," he told reporters via video link from Cairo after visiting Gaza.

"I've seen for myself these are entirely, entirely absent... These are tiny patches of barren land or they're street corners. They're sidewalks. They're half-built buildings. There is no water."

"Only a ceasefire is going to save the children of Gaza right now," and called the Israeli approach to creating these zones "callous and cold," Reuters quoted him saying.

Also, a World Health Organization official in Gaza said on Tuesday the situation was deteriorating by the hour as Israeli bombing has intensified in the south of the Palestinian enclave around the cities of Khan Younis and Rafah.

"The situation is getting worse by the hour," Richard Peeperkorn, WHO representative in Gaza, told reporters via video link. "There's intensified bombing going on all around, including here in the southern areas, Khan Younis and even in Rafah."

Peeperkorn said the humanitarian aid reaching Gaza was "way too little" and said the WHO was deeply concerned about the vulnerability of the health system in the densely populated enclave as more people move further south to escape the bombing.

"We will witness the same pattern of what happened in the north," he said, referring to an area of northern Gaza that was heavily bombed and nearly cut off from humanitarian supplies.

"That cannot happen ... I want to make this point very clear that we are looking at an increasing humanitarian disaster."

Thomas White, Director of Affairs at the UN Palestinian agency in Gaza, said a population of more than 600,000 had been ordered to move to escape bombardment.

"Rafah that normally has a population of 280K and already hosting around 470K IDP (internally displaced people) will not cope with a doubling of its IDP population," White wrote on social media platform X.

The WHO's Peeperkorn said the agency had complied with an Israeli order to remove supplies from warehouses in Khan Younis. He said WHO had been told the area would "most likely become an area of active combat in the coming days."

"We want to make sure that we can actually deliver essential medical supplies," he said.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday appealed to Israel to withdraw the order. Israel denied asking for the evacuation of warehouses.



France Expels 12 Algerian Officials in Tit-for-Tat Move amid Diplomatic Tensions

Algerian flags fly at half-staff along the seaside walk in Algiers, Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021. (AP)
Algerian flags fly at half-staff along the seaside walk in Algiers, Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021. (AP)
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France Expels 12 Algerian Officials in Tit-for-Tat Move amid Diplomatic Tensions

Algerian flags fly at half-staff along the seaside walk in Algiers, Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021. (AP)
Algerian flags fly at half-staff along the seaside walk in Algiers, Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021. (AP)

France said Tuesday it was expelling 12 Algerian diplomatic officials a day after Algeria announced the expulsion of the same number of French officials in escalating tensions between the two countries.

Algeria said Monday that its expulsion of 12 French officials was over the arrest of an Algerian consular official by French authorities in a kidnapping case, but relations between the two sides have been deteriorating since last summer. That's when France shifted its position to support Morocco’s autonomy plan for Western Sahara — a disputed territory claimed by the pro-independence Polisario Front, which receives support from Algeria.

Tensions further peaked in November after Algeria arrested French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, who is an outspoken critic of the Algerian regime. He has since been sentenced to five years in prison — a verdict he subsequently appealed.

In addition to what French officials called the "symmetrically" calibrated expulsion of 12 Algerian officials, France's ambassador to Algiers also was being recalled home for consultations, a statement from the French presidential palace said Tuesday.

It said Algerian authorities were responsible for "a brutal deterioration in our bilateral relations."

French counterterrorism prosecutors said three Algerian nationals in total were arrested last week and handed preliminary charges of "kidnapping or arbitrary detention … in connection with a terrorist undertaking."

The group is allegedly involved in the April 2024 kidnapping of an Algerian influencer, Amir Boukhors, or Amir DZ, a known critic of the Algerian government with 1.1 million followers on TikTok.

The latest surge in acrimony followed a brief easing of tensions about two weeks ago when French President Emmanuel Macron called Algerian counterpart Abdelmadjid Tebboune. French officials said they had agreed to revive bilateral relations.