UNRWA says more than half of Gaza's buildings have been destroyed

The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees reported on Monday that more than half of the buildings in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed by Israeli attacks since 7 October last year, Anadolu has reported. UNRWA cited data from the UN Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) in its statement on X.

“The destruction in Gaza is indescribable,” said the agency. “Clearing the rubble will take years. Healing from the psychological trauma of this war will take even longer.” Reiterating its call for a ceasefire, UNRWA insisted that “the suffering must end”.

The UN has indicated previously that removing the rubble in Gaza may take 14 years.

According to the Palestinian government media office in Gaza on 24 May, at least 87,000 homes were completely destroyed in Gaza, with 297,000 homes damaged and rendered uninhabitable. It added that the so-called Israel Defence Forces have used 77,000 tons of explosives against the Palestinians in Gaza since last October.

More than 37,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since then, most of them women and children, and much of the territory lies in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on 6 May. Israel has ignored the ICJ rulings.

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