The Media Office in Gaza has confirmed that 86% of the buildings in Gaza Strip have been destroyed due to Israel occupation’s dropping of tens of tons of explosives equivalent to 5 nuclear bombs over the course of an entire year. This has also resulted in more than 150,000 casualties, including 51,800 martyrs and missing persons.
In a press conference in Gaza on Monday, Director General of the Office Ismail Thawabteh said, “it has been a full year of crimes and genocidal war waged by the Israeli occupation forces against our Palestinian people in Gaza Strip, a full year of killing, extermination, destruction, and forced displacement, crimes that are sponsored by the American administration and forces of global oppression.”
Martyrs and injured
He added, “For an entire year, the occupation has continued to kill more victims, especially children and women, without justification. We have reached over 150,000 victims, including more than 51,800 martyrs and missing persons. Over 41,800 martyrs have reached hospitals, while more than 10,000 martyrs remain under the rubble of destroyed buildings, and there are missing persons whose fate we do not know.”
He noted that the occupation has killed more than 16,000 Palestinian children, including 171 infants who were born and martyred during the genocidal war. Additionally, more than 11,400 women have been martyred.
The occupation has also wiped out 902 Palestinian families, killing all their members and erasing them from the civil registry, in a crime that shames humanity, the Office’s head said.
He continued, “For a full year, the American administration has provided the occupation with all kinds of weapons, bombs, missiles, and aircraft to completely wipe out residential blocks and neighborhoods, in more than 3,600 brutal massacres.”
He added, “For an entire year, the international community, UN organizations, world countries, and Arab and Islamic countries have watched the flowing river of blood in Gaza Strip without taking any action and without a practical stance regarding this historical catastrophe in modern times.”
Two million displaced
He warned that more than two million displaced people live in harsh conditions, facing extreme difficulties where all means of living and dignified life are absent. Many diseases are spreading among them, the most dangerous of which are polio, viral hepatitis, skin, respiratory, and digestive diseases, leading to a natural death rate more than six and a half times higher than before the war of genocide.
He said, “For an entire year, the occupation has deliberately targeted shelters and displacement centers, bombing 187 such centers and killing hundreds inside them. These displaced people have seen 100,000 tents deteriorate over a year filled with suffering, tragedy, and crime. They are waiting for the international community to provide them with housing to escape the summer heat and the coming winter cold, having issued numerous humanitarian appeals with no response.”
The siege
Thawabteh pointed out that the occupation continues to close the crossings to and from Gaza Strip, enforcing an unjust siege, preventing the entry of medicines and medical supplies, and blocking the transfer of 25,000 injured and sick individuals for treatment abroad, as part of Israel’s plan to destroy the health system and completely obliterate hospitals.
He continued, “For an entire year, the occupation army has killed and targeted the teams providing humanitarian services and civil protection. They have killed 85 civil defense officers, more than 700 Palestinian police officers, and 175 journalists and media personnel without any justifiable reasons, except for carrying out the genocide to the letter, desperately attempting to hide its features and impacts.”
Prisoners
He also noted that the occupation has detained 5,000 prisoners without any given reason, subjecting them to severe torture and killing 37 prisoners in custody through electric shocks and psychological and physical torture. “Among them, three doctors were executed in prisons: Dr. Adnan Al-Bursh, Dr. Iyad Al-Rantisi, and Dr. Ziad Al-Dalu, along with others from our great people who were killed in prisons without any visible role on the part of the international organizations that have failed in their duties.”
Destruction of education
He mentioned the complete destruction of 125 universities and schools, and partial destruction of more than 337 others. Additionally, 750 teachers and educational staff have been killed, as well as 130 scholars, academics, and university professors, along with 12,700 students. More than 780,000 students have been deprived of education for the second consecutive year, while the world watches this catastrophe without taking any action.
Destruction of mosques
According to Thawabteh, the occupation has completely destroyed 814 mosques and partially destroyed dozens more, as well as completely destroying three churches. For an entire year, it has desecrated 19 cemeteries, stealing 2,300 corpses from these graves, showing no respect for the humanity and sanctity of the dead and martyrs in a crime against humanity.
Destruction of residential buildings
He pointed out that the occupation has completely destroyed 150,000 housing units and severely damaged more than 80,000 units, rendering them uninhabitable. This brutal occupation has dropped more than 85,000 tons of explosives on the Gaza Strip and residential neighborhoods, equivalent to over 5 nuclear bombs.
He added, “The occupation has also destroyed more than 3,000 kilometers of electricity networks, over 330,000 meters of water networks, more than 655,000 meters of sewage networks, and over 2,835 kilometers of roads and streets across Gaza Strip.”
Destruction of archaeological sites
Thawabteh also mentioned the destruction of more than 200 archaeological and heritage sites, and for an entire year, the occupation army has destroyed more than 35 facilities, playgrounds, and sports halls in the Gaza Strip.
He confirmed that the destruction rate in the Gaza Strip has reached 86% due to thr Israeli aggression, without any action from the world. The preliminary direct losses from this genocide and war amount to 35 billion dollars, marking a stain on the conscience of humanity and on the unjust world that stands idly by in the face of this unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.
Ethnic cleansing
He affirmed that the historical genocide being carried out by Israel in l Gaza Strip clearly demonstrates the extermination and ethnic cleansing being executed against the Palestinian people.
The Gaza media Office director emphasized the involvement of the American administration in this crime alongside a group of European countries and others that have betrayed humanity, stressing that future generations will never forget this bloody history of the occupation, which is an extension of English, French, German, and American occupations, where the end of these historical occupations has always been liberation and salvation.
Source: Palestinian Information Center