At Least 2,000 Housing Units Destroyed in Israel-Palestine Fighting, Says Gaza Official

A Palestinian official says an initial assessment shows at least 2,000 housing units were destroyed in the fighting between Israel and Palestinian militant groups in Gaza.

Naji Sarhan, deputy of Gaza’s works and housing ministry, said on Saturday that more than 15,000 other units were partly destroyed in the 11-day war.

Israel launched hundreds of airstrikes on the overcrowded strip, targeting residential, commercial and government buildings. It said it was going after locations where Hamas had offices and resources.

Sarhan said four mosques were destroyed along with dozens of police offices in Gaza. He said most of the factories in Gaza’s industrial zone were destroyed or damaged.

Meanwhile, police inspected unexploded Israeli ordinance collected during the campaign. Police chief Mahmoud Salah said nearly 300 Israeli rockets and shells did not explode.

Sarhan put the estimated financial losses from the fighting at $150 million. Assessment is still ongoing, he said.

Meanwhile, the United Nations says approximately 800,000 people in Gaza do not have regular access to clean piped water, as nearly 50% of the water network was damaged in the recent fighting.

Quoting Gaza’s public works and housing ministry, the UN ’s office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said nearly 17,000 residential and commercial units have been damaged or destroyed in the 11-day campaign.

These include 769 housing and commercial units that have been rendered uninhabitable, at least 1,042 units in some 258 buildings which have been destroyed and another 14,538 units that have suffered minor damage.

A cease-fire took effect Friday after an 11-day campaign that left more than 250 dead — the vast majority Palestinians — and brought widespread devastation to the already impoverished Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip

The UN said 53 education facilities, six hospitals and 11 primary health care centers have been damaged since May 10. One health center was severely damaged, the UN said, while one hospital is not operational because of lack of electricity. Schools in Gaza remain closed, affecting almost 600,000 children.

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