International aid groups have once again raised alarm over attacks on designated humanitarian zones across Gaza following Israel’s overnight strikes that left at least 19 people dead.
The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) called the designated humanitarian areas as “safe zones in name only,” noting that “Israel’s unlawful relocation directives have failed to protect or offer any guarantees of safety for Palestinians.”
The NRC described the images showing the aftermath of the strike as “horrifying,” noting that for “11 months, Israel has been forcing Palestinians in Gaza to flee from place to place without offering them genuine assurances of safety, proper accommodation or return once hostilities end.”
Separately, Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), a UK based non-governmental organization, described the humanitarian zone as a “so-called humanitarian zone” and said their teams on the ground were “exhausted and traumatised.”
“We call on the international community to uphold its responsibility to protect Palestinians from further atrocities, including by immediately halting all arms transfers to Israel,” Fikr Shalltoot, the Gaza Director at MAP, said.
