Ramallah. – More than 423,000 Palestinians were forced from their homes in the Gaza Strip after seven days of bombing by Israeli aircraft that left more than 1,572 dead and 7,262 injured, the United Nations denounced today.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its latest report on the issue that two-thirds of that number sought refuge in schools managed by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Middle East.
The area has experienced a total power outage since Wednesday afternoon, pushing essential health, water and sanitation services to the brink of collapse and exacerbating food insecurity, the company warned.
OCHA noted that this situation was caused after Israel cut off electricity and fuel supplies to Gaza on October 8, which in turn led to the closure of Gaza’s only power plant.
“Intense Israeli bombing from the air, sea and land continues almost uninterrupted. “Several residential buildings in densely populated areas were attacked and destroyed,” he emphasized.
On this issue, the UN agency explained that the most affected areas were Al Maqousi and Al Mashtal in the northern part of Gaza City, as well as the central and southern areas of the city of Rafah.
“Many victims remain trapped under the rubble and medical and civil defense teams are unable to reach the area due to protection problems, lack of equipment and badly damaged roads,” he lamented.
According to the Gaza Ministry of Public Works, 752 buildings were destroyed, including a total of 2,835 houses. Another 1,791 homes suffered irreparable damage and were uninhabitable, he noted.
Since hostilities began, Israel has damaged six water wells, three water pumping stations, a reservoir and a desalination plant that serve more than a million people, he added.
In addition to the 1,572 deaths reported by Palestinian authorities as a result of the bombing, there are more than a thousand suspected militants killed by the Israeli army during its invasion of the country, according to OCHA.
In this sense, he noted that the militias’ offensive caused the deaths of about 1,300 Israelis.