Israel has declared an area smaller than Heathrow Airport as a safe space where people displaced from Gaza can settle.
The Israeli army asked Palestinian residents of Gaza to evacuate to part of the town of al-Mawasi, south of the besieged strip, designating it as a safe space.
The directive comes as Israel has stepped up its bombing in southern Gaza, particularly around the town of Khan Younis, which the Israeli military says is home to Hamas leaders.
But can the space declared “safe” by the Israeli authorities really accommodate the more than 1.8 million Palestinians who have been forced to evacuate their homes since the outbreak of violence on October 7?
How big is Al Mawasi?
A coastal Bedouin town in the southern Gaza Strip, al-Mawasi is small and narrow – about 1 km (0.6 miles) wide and 14 km (8.7 miles) long. It was surrounded by Israeli settlements until former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon disengaged from Gaza settlements in 2005.
Israel has said that just 6.5 square kilometers of sandy, desolate terrain inside the city constitutes the humanitarian zone where evacuees are supposed to seek refuge.
This is an area twice the size of London’s Heathrow Airport. Around 61 million passengers passed through Heathrow in 2022, or around 167,000 per day on average.
In other words, the population density in the “safe” part of al-Mawasi would be more than 20 times that of Heathrow – even if all the airport’s daily passengers were there at the same time.
How safe is “safe”?
Israel’s escalating bombardment of southern Gaza after the collapse of the truce has reduced safe zone options for Palestinians during the bloody war that has lasted more than 60 days. Israel has assessed that Khan Younis, once secure, is now a “dangerous combat zone”.
While Israel claims there are safe zones for civilians in Gaza, residents have said no place is safe, and experts have pointed out that the spaces set aside by Israel for evacuating people are too small or unable to accommodate large displaced populations.
Does this hinder the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza?
Bushra Khalidi, a legal expert based in Ramallah, told Tel Aviv Tribune: “Gaza was already overcrowded… (now) we are talking about 1.8 million people in an airport. »
Khalidi added that cholera and gastroenteritis are spreading rapidly due to congested conditions. “People don’t improve because conditions don’t allow them to improve,” she said.
Is the creation of inappropriate security zones in Gaza a health problem?
Khalidi is not the first to criticize Israel’s declaration of al-Mawasi as a safe space. On November 17, World Health Organization (WHO) head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called the Israeli proposal a recipe for disaster.
“Attempting to cram so many people into such a small area with so little infrastructure or services will significantly increase the health risks of people already on the brink,” he said, adding that WHO would not participate in the creation of such a system. – called a “safe zone” in Gaza “without broad agreement, and unless basic conditions are in place to guarantee security and other essential needs are met, and a mechanism is in place to oversee its implementation”.
Does Al-Mawasi have adequate accommodation facilities?
A Sky News team visited al-Mawasi to investigate the situation. They did not find any means of shelter, such as agency tents or canteens. The region already faces a serious lack of health facilities.
