Ramallah, 4^th January - Fourteen people, the majority of them children under 10 years old, were reportedly killed by Israeli airstrikes near Al-Mawasi this morning, an area designated a “humanitarian zone” by Israeli authorities, to which Israeli forces ordered civilians to evacuate for their safety, says aid agency Save the Children.

Israeli forces have issued multiple so-called “evacuation orders” since 7 October, primarily directing civilians to three areas in the south - Khan Younis, Rafah and Al-Mawasi. All three have been subsequently hit by Israeli airstrikes, with civilians, including children, killed and injured.

Save the Children’s Country Director for the occupied Palestinian territory, Jason Lee, said:

“I cannot stress this enough: there is nowhere safe in Gaza. But under International Humanitarian Law, there should be. Camps, shelters, schools, hospitals, homes and so-called “safe zones” should not be battlegrounds. Yet Gaza has been laid to waste.

“These relocation orders offer nothing more than a smokescreen of safety. If people stay, they are killed. If they move, they are killed. People are facing the ‘choice’ of one death sentence or another.

“World leaders must secure a definitive ceasefire now. Every hour without one, more children will pay the price for broken politics with their lives and futures. There will be no safe place in Gaza until then.”

Save the Children has been providing essential services and support to Palestinian children since 1953. Save the Children’s team in the occupied Palestinian territory has been working around the clock, prepositioning vital supplies to support people in need, and working to find ways to get assistance into Gaza.   

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