WASHINGTON

Nowhere is safe in the Gaza Strip, including facilities carrying the UN flag, a spokesman warned on Tuesday.

"Let's be clear. There are no UN-designated safe zones in Gaza. All my senior colleagues have been very clear, including the Secretary-General (Antonio Guterres) saying there are no safe places in Gaza," Stephane Dujarric told reporters.

His remarks came one day after a US State Department spokesman said, "People should go to the UN-designated sites where -- that are on Israeli lists as deconfliction zones that should not be the target of military campaigns."

"They 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 or get some water,” said Dujarric. "We have seen since the beginning of this conflict, that those places that fly the UN flag are not safe either.”

Asked about remarks by an Israeli spokesman who claimed killing two Palestinian civilians for every Hamas member in Gaza would be a "tremendously positive" ratio, Dujarric said the UN is not in the business of establishing those kinds of ratios, "which I think are tasteless, to say the least."

"Our focus on messaging both publicly and privately is to avoid any civilian deaths which frankly, hasn't been very successful to be completely honest," he added.

At least 15,899 Palestinians have been killed and more than 42,000 injured since Israel launched a massive military campaign on the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, on Oct. 7, according to Gaza’s health officials.

The Israeli death toll in the Hamas attack stands at 1,200, according to official figures.