(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) GENEVA, Oct 3 (KUNA) -- The United Nations Childrenآ's Fund (UNICEF) warned on Friday that the so-called "safe zones" in the South of Gaza are also "places of death".
UNICEF Spokesperson James Elder described the very notion of such zones as "farcical", stressing that relentless bombardment and humanitarian collapse have rendered them deadly rather than protective.
Speaking online from (Deir Al-Balah) during a press conference in Geneva, Elder detailed visits to (Nasser) and (Al-Aqsa) hospitals where children lay paralyzed, burned or amputated following direct hits on their tents.
He noted "All the children I met in Al-Aqsa Hospital had been shot by drones and quadcapture. This level of violence and deprivation being normalized is profoundly broken."
Elder added that "In Nasser Hospital I saw mothers and newborns lying in corridors. I sat with three premature babies who were forced to share one oxygen source, each child receiving 20 minutes while the others cried."
He revealed that (Al-Rantissi Hospital) admitted between 60 and 80 children daily mostly for malnutrition and illness. The intensive care unit for infants at (Al-Ahli Hospital) is overflowing it was shelled last week."
Answering to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) question about resuming operation in Gaza City Elder stressed that "Gaza City remains home to tens of thousands of children" and affirmed UNICEFآ's determination to return.
For his part, the World Health Organizationآ's representative in the occupied Palestinian territory Rick Peeperkorn said that forced evacuations have become a devastating pattern in Gaza.
"We have seen this cycle repeatedly in the north Khan Younis and Rafah. Hospitals are bombed, staff forced to flee patients abandoned. This is the cruel absurdity civilians endure.," he said.
Peeperkorn reiterated that humanitarian agencies are working under conditions of extreme risk and insufficiency calling for a permanent ceasefire.
For his part, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Spokesperson Christian Cardon confirmed that no international staff remain in Gaza City amid ongoing bombardment evacuation orders and threats faced by healthcare workers. (end)
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