GENEVA: The United Nations warned Tuesday that it was impossible to create so-called safe zones for civilians to flee to inside the Gaza Strip amid Israel’s bombing campaign.
Israel had initially focused its offensive on the north of the territory, but the army has now also dropped leaflets on parts of the south, telling Palestinian civilians there to flee to other areas.
“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,” James Elder, spokesman for the UN children’s agency UNICEF, told reporters in Geneva via video-link from Cairo.
His comments came as Israeli troops battled Hamas militants in the southern Gaza Strip after expanding their offensive deeper into the besieged area.
Israel said it was at war with Hamas after the militant group’s October 7 attacks that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and which saw around 240 hostages taken, according to Israeli authorities.
In retaliation for the worst attack in its history, Israel has vowed to eradicate Hamas and secure the release of all the hostages held in Gaza.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says the war has killed nearly 15,900 people in the territory, around 70 percent of them women and children.
As Israel’s offensive pushes deeper into Gaza, international aid organizations have warned that civilians in the densely-populated territory are running out of places to flee to.
Elder insisted that the safe zones declared by Israel “cannot be safe nor humanitarian when unilaterally declared.”
The pretense that there is somewhere safe for people to flee to is “callous,” he said.
He stressed that in a proper safe zone, “you can guarantee the conditions of food, water, medicine and shelter.”
Elder, who spent the past week or so in Gaza, stressed that none of that is assured in the areas designated as safe zones.
“These are entirely, entirely absent. You cannot overstate this. These are tiny patches of barren land, or they are street corners, they are sidewalks,” he said.
“There is no water, no facilities, no shelter from the cold and the rain (and) there’s no sanitation.”
Elder pointed out that in the overcrowded shelters that most of the displaced in Gaza have flocked to 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.
“Without water, without sanitation, without shelter the so called safe zones risks becoming zones of disease.”
UN says ‘not possible’ to create ‘safe zones’ in Gaza
https://arab.news/jvmp5
UN says ‘not possible’ to create ‘safe zones’ in Gaza
- ‘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’
Syria war monitor reports Israeli strikes on military sites
Beirut: A Syria war monitor said Israel launched strikes early Saturday targeting military sites in Damascus and its countryside, in the latest such raids since rebels brought down Bashar Assad almost a week ago.
“Israeli strikes destroyed a scientific institute” and other related military facilities in Barzeh, in northern Damascus, and targeted a “military airport” in the capital’s countryside, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Strikes also targeted “Scud ballistic missile warehouses” and launchers in the Qalamun area, as well as “rockets, depots and tunnels under the mountain,” according to the Britain-based Observatory, which has a network of sources inside Syria.
The Observatory said several rounds of bombardment targeted “military sites of the former regime forces, as part of destroying what is left of the future Syrian army’s capabilities.”
Israel air strikes on Friday targeted “a missile base at the top of Damascus’s Mount Qasyun,” the group said, as well as an airport in southern Sweida province and “defense and research labs in Masyaf,” in Hama province.
Since Assad’s fall, Israel has launched hundreds of strikes against Syrian military sites, targeting everything from chemical weapons stores to air defenses.
In a move that has drawn international condemnation, Israel also seized a United Nations-patrolled buffer zone on the Syrian Golan Heights just hours after the rebels, led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, took Damascus.
On Thursday, UN chief Antonio Guterres expressed concern over “extensive violations” of Syrian sovereignty and the Israeli strikes in the country, his spokesman said.
Iran will not impede IAEA access, head of its atomic organization says
- IAEA reported that Iran had multiplied the pace of its enrichment to up to 60 percent purity, close to the 90 percent of weapons-grade
Iran will not impede UN nuclear watchdog’s access and inspection of its sites, the head of the country’s Atomic Energy Organization said on Saturday.
According to a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) earlier this week, Iran has agreed to tougher monitoring by the agency at its Fordow site after it greatly accelerated uranium enrichment to close to weapons grade there.
Last week, the IAEA reported that Iran had multiplied the pace of its enrichment to up to 60 percent purity, close to the 90 percent of weapons-grade, at Fordow.
“We have not created and will not create any obstacles for the agency’s inspections and access,” Atomic Energy Organization head Mohammad Eslami was quoted as saying by Iranian media.
“We operate within the framework of safeguards, and the agency also acts according to regulations— no more, no less,” he added.
Russian cargo plane departs Syria for Libya, more flights expected, official says
LATAKIA: A Russian cargo plane departed from Russia’s air base in the Syrian port city of Latakia for Libya on Saturday, a Syrian security official stationed outside the facility said, following rebels’ overthrow of President Bashar Assad last weekend.
The official told Reuters that additional Russian departures from the Hmeimim air base in Syria’s coastal Latakia province were expected in the coming days.
Increased activity has been observed at the air base throughout the day. In addition to the departing cargo plane, an Ilyushin II-76 cargo plane and an Alligator helicopter were seen landing at the base.
Helicopters were also seen flying within the base, and a SU-34 jet landed for refueling. A Zeppelin hovered overhead, and two trucks carrying Russian flags were seen traveling within the base.
On Friday, satellite images showed Russia moving military equipment at Hmeimim air base, with two Antonov AN-124 cargo planes visible.
Russia, a longstanding ally of Assad, granted the ousted Syrian leader asylum last weekend after helping him to flee his country as the rebels approached Damascus.
Moscow has said it hopes to maintain its two bases in Syria — the Hmeimim air base at Latakia and a naval base in Tartous — in order to keep up efforts against what it called international terrorism.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said on Thursday
contacts
with the political committee of Syria’s Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham were “proceeding in constructive fashion.”
US general discusses Syria, other regional issues in Israel visit
- Washington has urged Israel to be in close consultation with the US over events unfolding in Syria
- Israeli military said its jets conducted hundreds of strikes in Syria and destroyed the bulk of its strategic weapons stockpiles
WASHINGTON: A top US military officer visited Israel from Wednesday to Friday, meeting with Israeli defense officials and discussing the situation in Syria, among other regional topics, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement.
Army General Michael Kurilla, CENTCOM’s commander, met Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, along with Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, CENTCOM said.
Washington has urged Israel to be in close consultation with the US over events unfolding in Syria, where days earlier Syrian rebels led by rebel leader Abu Mohammed Al-Golani brought an end to more than 50 years of rule by the Assad family, as ousted President Bashar Assad fled the country.
The world has been watching to see if Syria’s new rulers can stabilize the country in which more than a decade of civil war killed hundreds of thousands and sparked a refugee crisis.
Following the collapse of Assad’s regime, the Israeli military said its jets conducted hundreds of strikes in Syria and destroyed the bulk of its strategic weapons stockpiles.
Katz has ordered Israeli troops to prepare to stay over the winter on Mount Hermon, a strategic location overlooking Damascus, adding to signs that Israel is planning a prolonged military presence in Syria.
“The leaders discussed a range of regional security issues, to include the ongoing situation in Syria, and preparedness against other strategic and regional threats,” the CENTCOM statement said.
CENTCOM said Kurilla also visited Jordan, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon in recent days.
While Israel welcomed the removal of Assad, an ally of arch rival Iran, it is suspicious of the rebel groups that toppled him, many of which have origins linked to Islamist groups.
In Lebanon, Kurilla visited Beirut to monitor withdrawal of the first Israeli troops under a ceasefire reached last month for a war that killed thousands and displaced over a million.
Israel is separately waging a war in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza, where its military assault over the last 14 months has killed tens of thousands and led to genocide and war crimes accusations that it denies.
Israel’s assault on Gaza followed an Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Palestinian Hamas militants that killed 1,200.
Israel orders troops to ‘prepare to remain’ in Syria buffer zone through winter
- Israel seized demilitarized zone hours after Syrian opposition forces wept president Bashar Assad from power
- Israel says it seized UN-patrolled buffer zone to defend itself after Assad's ouster from office during civil war
JERUSALEM: Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has ordered the military to “prepare to remain” throughout the winter in the UN-patrolled buffer zone between Israeli and Syrian forces on the strategic Golan Heights.
Israel seized the demilitarized zone on Sunday, just hours after Syrian opposition forces swept president Bashar Assad from power.
Since then, the Israeli military has launched hundreds of air and naval strikes against Syrian military assets, targeting everything from chemical weapons stores to air defenses to prevent them from falling into opposition forces’ hands.
The plan to deploy troops in the buffer zone comes at a time when Israeli forces are still withdrawing from southern Lebanon after fighting Hezbollah militants for months and the war in Gaza with Palestinian militants continues.
“Due to the situation in Syria, it is of critical security importance to maintain our presence at the summit of Mount Hermon, and everything must be done to ensure the (army’s) readiness on-site to enable the fighters to stay there despite the challenging weather conditions,” Katz’s spokesman said in a statement on Friday.
Israel says it seized the buffer zone to defend itself.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Thursday that the collapse of Assad’s rule had created a “vacuum on Israel’s border and in the buffer zone.”
“This deployment is temporary until a force that is committed to the 1974 (armistice) agreement can be established and security on our border can be guaranteed.”
Israel captured most of the Golan Heights from Syria during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
It held onto the territory during the 1973 Arab-Israeli war and in 1981 annexed the area in a move since recognized only by the United States.
Israel’s seizure of the buffer zone has triggered widespread international criticism, including from UN chief Antonio Guterres.
Guterres “is deeply concerned by the recent and extensive violations of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement on Thursday.
“The Secretary-General is particularly concerned over the hundreds of Israeli air strikes on several locations in Syria.”
The UN says Israel’s seizure of the buffer zone violates the 1974 armistice.
Guterres urges “the parties to the agreement to uphold their obligations under this instrument, including by ending all unauthorized presence in the area of separation and refraining from any action that would undermine the ceasefire and stability in Golan,” Dujarric said.
Israel’s key military ally the United States has called for the Israeli incursion to be “temporary.”
Analysts say Israel is concerned that any remaining stocks of chemical or other strategic weapons that Assad’s forces had held onto could fall into the hands of jihadist groups, who might use them against it.
