Israel destroyed hundreds of houses in Gaza and displaced 52,000 Palestinians

More than 52,000 Palestinians have been displaced by Israeli air strikes that have destroyed or badly damaged nearly 450 buildings in the Gaza Strip, the U.N. aid agency said on Tuesday.

 

In a separate statement, rights group Amnesty International said Israel air strikes on residential buildings might amount to war crimes. 

 

About 47,000 of the displaced people have sought shelter in 58 U.N.-run schools in Gaza, Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Geneva, told reporters.

 

Laerke said 132 buildings had been destroyed and 316 had been severely damaged, including six hospitals and nine primary healthcare centres as well a desalination plant, affecting access to drinking water for about 250,000 people.

 

In this context, Head of International Commission for Supporting Palestinian people’s rights Salah Abdul Ati said that 1025 buildings had been completely destroyed and 6500 houses and industrial facilities and 36 schools  had been severely damaged .

 

There is a severe shortage of medical supplies, a risk of water-borne diseases and the spread of COVID-19 because of displaced people crowding into schools, said Margaret Harris, a spokeswoman for the World Health Organization.