UPDATE - Cease-fire, humanitarian corridor needed in Gaza for children's safety: UNICEF

ADDS FURTHER REMARKS; REVISES DECK

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

GENEVA (AA) - For children's safety, a cease-fire and humanitarian corridor are needed in Gaza amid the intensifying conflict between Israel and Hamas, UNICEF said on Friday in response to Anadolu's question.

"The only way to keep children safe is a cease-fire, full functioning of hospitals and to allow children and families out and to allow medical supplies and humanitarians to do their jobs," UNICEF spokesperson James Elder said.

According to the latest numbers, 447 children have been killed in Gaza, Elder said, citing Palestinian Health Ministry figures.

“Hundreds and hundreds of children have now been killed and injured every hour in Gaza. The number of children killed is rising," he said at a UN press briefing.

"The killing of children must stop," he added.

"At the same time, Israeli children being held hostage in Gaza must be safely and immediately reunited with families and loved ones," Elder said.

To a question by Anadolu about Israel's order for evacuation of Palestinians from northern Gaza within the next 24 hours, the spokesperson said: "That is simply not possible in an area as densely populated as this where there have been not hundreds but 1000s of airstrikes and where … there seems no respite in the attack," he said. "There is nowhere safe for children to be in Gaza."

Underlining that the humanitarian situation in Gaza has reached "lethal lows," he said: "UNICEF is calling for the immediate ceasefire as 1.1 million people, nearly half of them children, are being warned to move out of the way about what is expected to be a ground assault on one of the most densely populated places on the planet."

The Israeli army on Friday ordered all residents of northern Gaza to evacuate their homes and head to the south.

In an earlier statement, UNICEF said that it is "terrified" by the scenes in Gaza where a "large number of children are among the victims," and 1 million people "have no safe place to go."

"This is unacceptable and the violence must stop immediately," it urged.

In a dramatic escalation of Middle East tensions, Israeli forces launched a sustained and forceful military campaign against the Gaza Strip, a response to a military offensive by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas in Israeli territories.

The conflict began last Saturday when Hamas initiated Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against Israel, a multi-pronged surprise attack including a barrage of rocket launches and infiltrations into Israel via land, sea and air.

Hamas said the operation was in retaliation for the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem and Israeli settlers' growing violence against Palestinians.

The Israeli military then launched Operation Swords of Iron against Hamas targets within the Gaza Strip.

Israel's response has extended into cutting water and electricity supplies to Gaza, further worsening the living conditions in an area that has reeled under a crippling siege since 2007.