Israel’s destruction of Gaza cities
Before Israel launched its war on Gaza last October, the enclave’s northern Gaza City was home to some 600,000 people. Almost three-quarters of its buildings have been damaged or destroyed.
In Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city along the border with Egypt, the Israeli army launched a ground offensive in early May.
Although relatively spared compared to Gaza City, gutted facades and buildings stand testament to the scars of war.
Rights group Amnesty International said 90 percent of the buildings along Gaza’s fence with Israel appear to have been “destroyed or severely damaged” between October 2023 and May 2024.
Only 16 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals partially functioning: WHO
Israel has repeatedly attacked hospitals and health workers, crippling most of the enclave’s medical facilties. Israel accused Hamas of using the medical facilities for military purposes, without providing any proof. Hamas denied the allegations.
The territory’s largest hospital, al-Shifa in Gaza City, was targeted in two offensives by the Israeli army, the first in November, the second in March.
The World Health Organization said the second operation reduced the hospital to an “empty shell” strewn with human remains.
By August, only 16 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals, or 44 percent, were partially functioning, according to the WHO.
Data from the UN’s Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) and geographic database OpenStreetMap also indicate that more than 60 percent of Gaza’s mosques have been damaged or destroyed.
Palestinians inspect damages at Al-Shifa Hospital after Israeli forces withdrew from the hospital and the area around it following a two-week operation on April 1
Nearly 90 percent of Gaza’s schools damaged
The territory’s largely UN-run schools, where many civilians have sought refuge from the war, have also not been spared from nonstop Israeli bombardments. As of July 6, UNICEF counted 477 schools damaged, representing nearly 85 percent of its 564 facilities.
Of those, 133 have been badly damaged and another 344 directly hit.
In September, the UN’s global fund for education in emergencies, Education Cannot Wait, said nearly 90 percent of Gaza’s school buildings had been damaged or destroyed.
Up to 625,000 students of Gaza have not been able to pursue their studies. A teacher in Gaza reflects on how the first day of school used to bring excitement to students, parents and teachers. Read here.
UN says 68 percent of Gaza’s farmland damaged by Israeli bombardment
According to UN satellite imagery dating from August 27, 68 percent of Gaza’s farmland has been damaged due to Israel’s war, the equivalent of 102 square kilometres (39 square miles).
The imagery found that 78 percent of the damage is in northern Gaza’s farmland and 57 percent of it is in Rafah, in Gaza’s south.
In addition, 68 percent of Gaza’s road network has been damaged and about 1,190 kilometres (739 miles) of roads have been destroyed, according to a preliminary analysis by the United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) which looked at data up to August 18.
“It is unimaginable, the level of suffering in Gaza, the level of deaths and destruction have no parallel in everything I’ve witnessed since [becoming] secretary-general,” UN chief Antonio Guterres said earlier this month.
Israel continuing to block the flow of essential medical aid to Gaza
Al-Aqsa Hospital, alongside the main central hospitals in the southern part of Gaza, is really struggling to provide medical care as Israel continues to block supplies of medical aid.
The hospitals are also struggling to remove medical waste safely.
Meanwhile, field hospitals are not a proper solution for the medical crisis in Gaza. They came as an immediate response to the war.
We have been talking to doctors and they told us that they are struggling. Some medicines have completely run out from the pharmaceutical warehouses of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, as well as other essential supplies because Israel is continuing to block the flow of essential medical aid to Gaza.
