UNITED NATIONS, December 6. /TASS/. Currently, no safe zones have left in the Gaza Strip, since even UN-flagged facilities are being attacked, Spokesperson for the UN Secretary General Stephane Dujarric has told reporters.

"There are no UN-designated safe zones in Gaza. I think all my senior colleagues have been very clear, including the Secretary-General, saying there are no safe places in Gaza," he said. "There are shelters that fly the UN flag that are sheltering thousands and thousands and thousands of people, men, women and children who are trying to stay alive and get some food, get some water. We have seen, since the beginning of this conflict, that those places that fly the UN flag are not safe either."

On December 1, the Israel Defense Forces published a map of the Gaza Strip divided into zones to facilitate evacuation of residents from unsafe areas. A few hours earlier, Israel resumed its military operation in Gaza, accusing Hamas of disrupting the ceasefire.

US National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby said earlier that the US believes Israel was right to publish maps of the Gaza Strip showing which areas are dangerous for civilians and which are not. He said Israel posted the map online to show Gazans where they should not go and where they could go with a certain degree of safety. He added that Israel is obviously making an effort to act with greater empathy and caution.

The situation in the Middle East sharply escalated following an incursion of Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip into Israel on October 7, accompanied by killings of residents of Israeli settlements near the border and taking more than 200 hostages, including children, women and elderly people. Hamas has cast the attack as a response to Israeli actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Israel has declared a complete siege of the Gaza Strip and started a military operation there. Israel also strikes parts of Lebanon and Syria in retaliation for bombardments originating from these countries. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank.