Gaza: Civilians must be spared from impact of fighting

Evacuation orders have impacted thousands of families, most recently in Gaza City. These instructions are often unclear and have led to confusion and fear. 

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) hotline has received hundreds of calls in recent days from people desperate for help. Entire families are trapped and desperately seek security. The huge needs are beyond our capacity to respond. 

Those in Gaza City are instructed to move southwards to areas that are overcrowded, lacking in essential services, and are experiencing hostilities. The grim reality in Gaza today is that nowhere is safe. The struggle to simply survive is robbing people of their dignity. 

International humanitarian law is designed to preserve human dignity even during the height of war. 

We urgently reiterate the need for parties to the conflict to respect the law, which includes doing their utmost to spare civilians from the effects of the hostilities, and to enable the work of humanitarians to safely and effectively help people. 

About the ICRC 

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a neutral, impartial and independent organization with an exclusively humanitarian mandate that stems from the Geneva Conventions of 1949. It helps people around the world affected by armed conflict and other violence, doing everything it can to protect their lives and dignity and to relieve their suffering, often alongside its Red Cross and Red Crescent partners.

For more information, please contact: 

Christoph HANGER, ICRC Geneva, tel: +41 79 731 04 03 OR changer@icrc.org