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
TT
20

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.



Lebanon Detains Several People on Suspicion of Firing Rockets at Israel

A view shows a damaged site in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, as Israeli troops withdrew from most of south Lebanon, in Lebanon, February 19, 2025. (Reuters)
A view shows a damaged site in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, as Israeli troops withdrew from most of south Lebanon, in Lebanon, February 19, 2025. (Reuters)
TT
20

Lebanon Detains Several People on Suspicion of Firing Rockets at Israel

A view shows a damaged site in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, as Israeli troops withdrew from most of south Lebanon, in Lebanon, February 19, 2025. (Reuters)
A view shows a damaged site in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, as Israeli troops withdrew from most of south Lebanon, in Lebanon, February 19, 2025. (Reuters)

The Lebanese military said it has detained a group of people linked to firing rockets into Israel last month.

In a statement issued late Wednesday night, the army said it had detained several people, including a number of Palestinians, who were involved in firing rockets in two separate attacks toward Israel in late March that triggered intense Israeli airstrikes on parts of Lebanon. Lebanon’s Hezbollah group denied at the time it was behind the firing of rockets, The Associated Press reported.

The army said that a vehicle and other equipment used in the rockets attacks were confiscated and the detainees were referred to judicial authorities. The army said it had carried out raids in different parts of Lebanon to detain the suspects without giving further details.

On Thursday, the state-run National News Agency reported that Gen. Rodolph Haikal briefed a weekly cabinet meeting about the security situation along the border and the ongoing implementation of the UN Security Council resolution that ended the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war.

Three security and one judicial official told The Associated Press that four Palestinians linked to the Hamas group are being questioned.

A Hamas official told the AP that several members of the group were detained in Lebanon recently and released shortly afterward adding that they were not involved in firing rockets into Israel. He said in one case authorities detained a Hamas member who was carrying an unlicensed pistol.

All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Hezbollah started launching attacks on Israel a day after the Israel-Hamas war erupted on Oct. 7, 2023 with the Palestinian militants’ attack on southern Israel. The war that left more than 4,000 people dead in Lebanon and caused wide destruction ended in late November with a US-brokered ceasefire.

Since the ceasefire went into effect in late November, Israel has carried out almost daily airstrikes that left dozens of civilians and Hezbollah members dead.

On Tuesday, the office of the UN high commissioner for human rights said that at least 71 civilians, including 14 women and nine children, have been killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon since a ceasefire took effect.