Israel designates Al-Mawasi a safe zone in Gaza. Palestinians and aid groups say it offers little relief
- Heavy urban combat raged in and around Gaza’s biggest cities as the conflict between Israel and Hamas enters its third month
- Thousands of Palestinians are living in a makeshift tent camp in southwest Gaza that Israel designated a humanitarian zone
Israel has designated a small slice of mostly undeveloped land along Gaza’s Mediterranean coast as a safe zone - a place where waves of people fleeing the war can find protection from air strikes and receive humanitarian supplies for their families.
The reality? The area of Al-Mawasi is a makeshift tent camp where thousands of dazed Palestinians live in squalid conditions in scattered farm fields and waterlogged dirt roads.
Their numbers have swelled in recent days as people flee an Israeli military offensive in nearby areas of the southern Gaza Strip.
Roughly 20 sq km (8 square miles) in southwest Gaza, Al-Mawasi lies at the heart of a heated debate between Israel and international humanitarian organisations over the safety of the territory’s civilians.
Israel has offered Al-Mawasi as a solution for protecting people uprooted from their homes and seeking safety from the heavy fighting between its troops and Hamas militants.
The United Nations and relief groups say Al-Mawasi is a poorly planned attempt to impose a solution for people who have been displaced and offers no guarantee of safety in a territory where people have faced the dangers of continued air strikes in other areas where the army ordered them to go.