How Israel is squeezing 1.8 million Palestinians into an airport-sized area
Israel has declared an area smaller than Heathrow Airport as a safe space for Gaza’s displaced people to move to.
https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2023/12/6/how-israel-is-squeezing-1-8-million-palestinians-into-an-airport-sized-area
Is this hindering the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza?
Ramallah-based legal expert Bushra Khalidi told Al Jazeera, “Gaza was already overpopulated … [now] we’re talking about 1.8 million people in an airport.”
Khalidi added that cholera and gastroenteritis are rapidly spreading due to the congested conditions. “People are not getting better because conditions are not allowing them to get better,” she said.
Is the establishment of improper safe zones in Gaza a health concern?Khalidi is not the first to criticise Israel’s declaration of al-Mawasi as a safe space. World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called the Israeli proposal a recipe for disaster on November 17.
“Attempting to cram so many people into such a small area with such little infrastructure or services will significantly increase risks to health for people who are already on the brink,” he said, adding that the WHO will not participate in the establishment of any so-called “safe zone” in Gaza “without broad agreement, and unless fundamental conditions are in place to ensure safety and other essential needs are met, and a mechanism is in place to supervise its implementation”.