Palestinian resistance fighters attend funeral of Hamas commanders killed in Gaza
Palestinians gather on Friday in a mosque in Gaza City during the funeral of Rawhi Mushtaha, a senior Hamas official, and Sami Odeh, Hamas’s general security service commander, who were killed in an Israeli strike last year in Gaza.
As Palestinians return to their homes in Gaza, many find nothing left
Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Gaza, Hani Mahmoud, spoke earlier to authorities and residents in the war-ravaged territory’s southern Rafah city where recovery efforts are under way.
Maher Salem Ashour, planning and investment director of Gaza’s municipalities, described the total destruction inflicted by the Israeli military on the city.
“All aspects of life were destroyed, including thousands of kilometres of roads; 600,000 metres of water network; 1 million metres of sewage system, more than 400 underground water wells,” he said.
A humanitarian relief coordinator in Rafah said that with limited heavy machinery available to carry out the cleanup, local authorities had lost 85 percent of their capacity to respond to local needs, and Israel’s ongoing blockade of Gaza continues to hinder emergency response efforts.
One local woman, Umm Husam, told Al Jazeera that when she returned to her home in Rafah, she found nothing.
“I went to see my house in Rafa. I found it completely destroyed,” she said.
“I want to go to my house, but how am I supposed to do that?” “The problem is that there’s no life there, no water, no electricity, no infrastructure or food. There’s nothing left for us,” she added.
An aerial photograph taken by a drone shows Palestinians walking through the destruction caused by the Israeli air and ground offensive in Rafah, southern Gaza, on January 21
Israeli forces fire at homes near central Gaza’s Maghazi
Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic report that Israeli forces have fired shots at Palestinian homes near the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza. It is unclear if there are any casualties from the attack.
Despite the continuing ceasefire, Israel has repeatedly used military force in the enclave this week, with tank fire killing two people near Rafah on Thursday.
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