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In this context, “locality” means a specific place of limited area, generally containingbuildings, while “zone” means a relatively large area of land and may include one or morelocalities. 3405.14.3.1 Civilian Hospital and Safety Zones and Localities. During internationalarmed conflict, States may establish hospital and safety zones and localities to protect certainpersons from the effects of war, namely, wounded, sick, and aged persons, children under fifteen,expectant mothers, and mothers of children under seven. 341 Parties to a conflict may concludeagreements on the mutual recognition of the hospital zones and localities they have created,drawing upon model agreements that are annexed to the 1949 Geneva Conventions. 342 Theestablishment of a zone only binds an adverse party when it agrees to recognize the zone. 343These zones and localities may be combined with hospital zones established for the wounded andsick of the armed forces. 344Protecting Powers and the ICRC may seek to facilitate the institution and recognition ofcivilian hospital and safety zones and localities. 3455.14.3.2 Military Hospital Zones and Localities. States may establish in theirown territory, and if the need arises, in occupied areas, hospital zones and localities so organizedas to protect the wounded and sick (as defined in the GWS 346 ) from the effects of war, as well as340 GC COMMENTARY 120-21 (“Locality should be taken to mean a specific place of limited area, generallycontaining buildings. The term zone is used to describe a relatively large area of land and may include one or morelocalities.”).341 GC art. 14 (“In time of peace, the High Contracting Parties and, after the outbreak of hostilities, the Partiesthereto, may establish in their own territory and, if the need arises, in occupied areas, hospital and safety zones andlocalities so organized as to protect from the effects of war, wounded, sick and aged persons, children under fifteen,expectant mothers and mothers of children under seven.”).342 GC art. 14 (“Upon the outbreak and during the course of hostilities, the Parties concerned may concludeagreements on mutual recognition of the zones and localities they have created. They may for this purposeimplement the provisions of the Draft Agreement annexed to the present Convention, with such amendments as theymay consider necessary.”).343 GC COMMENTARY 127 (“The zones will not, strictly speaking, have any legal existence, or enjoy protectionunder the Convention, until such time as they have been recognized by the adverse Party. This will entail theconclusion of an agreement between the Power which has established zones in its territory and the Powers withwhich it is at war. It is only an agreement of this kind, concluded, as a general rule, after the outbreak of hostilities,which gives legal form to the obligation on States which have accorded recognition to zones to respect those zones.An agreement recognizing the zones is thus a sine qua non of their legal existence from the international point ofview. It should contain all the provisions, particularly in regard to control procedure, required to prevent disputesarising later in regard to its interpretation.”).344 GC COMMENTARY 125 (“As has already been pointed out, the provisions relating to hospital and safety zones inthe First and Fourth Geneva Conventions are sufficiently flexible to make various combinations possible. There is,for instance, no reason why a hospital zone should not combine the two types and provide shelter for both soldiersand civilians in need of treatment, since once a soldier is wounded or sick, he may be said to be no longer acombatant on either side, but simply a suffering, inoffensive human being.”).345 GC art. 14 (“The Protecting Powers and the International Committee of the Red Cross are invited to lend theirgood offices in order to facilitate the institution and recognition of these hospital and safety zones and localities.”).346 Refer to § 7.3.2 (Persons Entitled to Protection as Wounded, Sick, or Shipwrecked Under the GWS and GWS-Sea).250