a UN Humanitarian Affairs Coordinator for the Palestinian Territories warned on Thursday that “nowhere is safe in Gaza” due to Israeli bombing of the area since the start of the war with Hamas.
Lynn Hastings said in a statement that the “advance warnings” issued by the Israeli army for people to withdraw from the areas it plans to reach “do not make any difference.”
“Nowhere is safe in Gaza,” Hastings said, as quoted by the French agency AFP.
The war was sparked by a Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, which Israeli authorities say left more than 1,400 dead.
Israel vowed to destroy the Palestinian Islamist group and has since bombed the Gaza Strip, leaving a death toll of more than 6,500, according to Hamas.
Hasting said the Israeli military “continues to warn residents of Gaza City that those who stay at home are endangering themselves.”
For people who cannot evacuate, advance warnings make no difference. The United Nations plans to provide aid wherever those in need are. #NotATarget
Read my full statement on evacuation notices at #Gaza residents here: https://t.co/MkGUg3LaIC pic.twitter.com/tqe4rXAMNz
-Lynn Hastings (@LynnHastings) October 26, 2023
He said that in some cases the Israeli army’s notification “encourages people to go to a humanitarian zone in Al-Mawasi”, located west of the town of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip.
“For people who cannot flee because they have nowhere to go or cannot move, early warnings make no difference,” the UN coordinator said.
Hastings lamented that people face impossible choices “when evacuation routes are bombed, (…) when essential goods for survival are missing and when there are no guarantees of return”.
Noting that the The UN plans to “provide assistance where people need it,” Lynn Hastings reminded that “the conduct of armed conflict anywhere is governed by international humanitarian law.”
“This means that citizens must be protected and have the essentials to survive, wherever they are and whether they decide to move or stay,” he stated.
“It also means that the hostages – all hostages – must be released immediately and unconditionally,” he added.
More than 200 people were kidnapped in Israel during the Hamas attack.
The “number two” of Hamas’s political wing, Saleh al-Arouri, stated that the foreign hostages in Gaza are “guests” of the Islamist group.
As for the Israelis, “they will be exchanged” for Palestinian prisoners, Al-Arouri added in an interview with a Lebanese militia channel that Hezbollah released today.
Hamas has twice released four hostages, two young women and two elderly women, for humanitarian reasons.
Source: DN
