Red Cross head says ‘impossible’ to have safe, dignified mass evacuation of Gaza City
The head of the international Red Cross on Aug 30 denounced Israel’s plans for a mass evacuation of Gaza City ahead of a military takeover, insisting there was no way it could be done safely.
“It is impossible that a mass evacuation of Gaza City could ever be done in a way that is safe and dignified under the current conditions,” International Committee of the Red Cross president Mirjana Spoljaric said in a statement.
“Such an evacuation would trigger a massive population movement that no area in the Gaza Strip can absorb, given the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure and the extreme shortages of food, water, shelter and medical care,” she warned.
Her comments came after Israel’s military on Aug 29 declared Gaza City “a dangerous combat zone”, as it
prepared to conquer the occupied Palestinian territory’s largest city
after almost two years of war.
Israel is under mounting pressure at home and abroad to end its devastating offensive in Gaza, where the vast majority of the population has been displaced at least once and
The Israeli military did not call for the population to evacuate immediately but the army’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said on Aug 27 that the city’s evacuation was “inevitable”.
the UN has declared a famine
The UN estimates that nearly a million people currently live in Gaza governorate, which includes Gaza City and its surroundings in the north of the territory.
