AMN / WEB DESK
Israeli Military have accused Hamas of firing rockets from ‘humanitarian zones’. It posted videos and maps yesterday that it said showed Hamas had fired rockets from “humanitarian zones” in southern Gaza, adding to concerns that nowhere in the enclave was safe for civilians.
The military said that Hamas militants fired 14 rockets from locations that included Al-Mawasi, a barren area in Rafah that was crowded with fleeing Gazans, and that the rockets were launched “from near tents of evacuated Gazan civilians” and from “next to United Nations facilities.” The material and Israel’s account of it could not immediately be verified.
It was not clear whether Israel would now regard the area as a legitimate military target. But the Israeli claims about Al-Mawasi underscored the risks of so-called safe zones in Gaza, which the U.N. has opposed on the grounds that no one party to a war can unilaterally declare places completely safe for civilians.
Al-Mawasi and the surrounding Rafah area are among the few remaining places Israel’s military has told displaced Gazans they can seek safety as it mounts an offensive in southern Gaza.
Nearly 1.9 million people, or about 85 percent of the total population of Gaza, have fled their homes during the two months of war, according to the U.N.