International Hotspots

Israel and Palestine
The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) maintains a border zone on the Gaza strip and
declares "no-go zones", where they may use lethal force to enforce the security
exclusion zone. An IDF spokesman said that "residents of the Gaza Strip are required
not to come any closer than 300 meters from the security fence", although there is some
allowance for farmers to approach up to 100 meters if they do so on foot
only. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that
the no-go zones include about 30% of the arable land in the Gaza strip, and a small
number of residents farm in the exclusion zones despite the risk of military
action. Unlike a legal border zone, the no-go zone is declared unilaterally in occupied
territory, without acknowledgement or cooperation of Palestinian authorities, and as
such can be considered a disputed no-go zone. It is considered unlawful by the
Swedish organization Diakonia.
Malaysia
The Gaya Island is a location of an illegal Filipino colony, called Kampung Lok Urai, with
stilt houses girdling the beach. Both the Malaysian federal government and the Sabah
state government do not officially recognize the settlement and the inhabitants as the
inhabitants are known as illegal immigrants. It has a 6,000 floating population of largely
Filipinos Suluk and Bajau. It is considered a dangerous, high crime or "no-go" area by
the police and the locals.
South Africa
The term "no-go zone" has been informally applied to high-crime neighborhoods in
South African cities. In South Africa, the apartheid policy created segregated
neighborhoods where whites risked being removed or victimized in black-only
neighborhoods and vice versa. Because of the bantustan system, many urban
inhabitants lived in the city illegally per apartheid laws. For example, in Cape
Town, Cape Flats was a neighborhood where many of those evicted were relocated. It
became a "no-go area" as it was controlled by criminal gangs. However, many of these
areas have experienced significant gentrification; for example, Woodstock in Cape
Town has experience significant urban renewal and cannot be described as a no-go
zone anymore.
Nevertheless, MiX Telematics uses the term "no-go zones" to warn drivers of the risk
of carjacking and other crime in its proprietary Matrix vehicle tracking software. In 2010,
a housing complex comprising a number of city blocks in Atlantis, Western Cape were
described as a "no-go zone for police conducting raids", and ambulances could not
enter without police escort. In 2014, the situation had improved, and after convictions of
several gang members, a police official said that "legislation concerning organised crime
was beginning to work". In 2018, a gang war in Parkwood, Cape Town was reported to
turn the area into a "no-go zone", although a minister visited the area to ensure policing
continues.
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