Almost 80 percent of those killed as a result of the Israeli bombing of Gaza are civilians, the United Nations said in a report.
The death toll from the week-long Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip is climbing to 200.
More casualties are feared as the attacks resumed Tuesday, six hours after Israel unilaterally entered an Egyptian-proposed ceasefire that was rejected by Hamas’ armed wing who continued cross-border rocket fire. The Israeli military said that during the supposed truce about 50 rockets were fired by Palestinians all over Israel; no injuries were reported.
According to a report by UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), over 77 percent of fatalities since the beginning of the Israeli Operation Protective Edge on July 7 have been civilians.
By Monday, when the UN report was issued, 138 civilians, including 36 children were killed in the attacks. Over 1360 Palestinians were injured, “of whom 386 are children and 249 women,” OCHA said.
Some 1,255 homes were destroyed or severely damaged in Gaza, tens of thousands of Palestinians have fled their homes following Israeli warnings, and 17,000 have taken shelter at UNRWA (UN aid agency for Palestinians) schools.The vast majority of the displaced fled their homes with few belongings, including families who lost everything under the rubble of their destroyed homes.
“Gaza’s water utility has suspended emergency operations and repairs due to the insecurity of its staff, and warned that water supply to 600,000 is at risk as a result,” the UN says.
UNRWA described the damage caused by Israel's air offensive on Gaza as “immense.”
“The level of human losses and destruction in Gaza is really immense,” the aid agency’s spokesman Sami Mshasha said Tuesday, as cited by AFP. The official said that 560 homes had been totally destroyed, while thousands of buildings – including 47 UNRWA facilities - got damaged by the bombings. He called on the warring sides to respect UN buildings.
Last week, Israeli bombs destroyed a mosque in the central Gaza Strip, which Israeli military said was used as storage for weapons. Several other mosques as well as Hamas-affiliated charities and an Islamic home for the disabled were hit by the strikes.
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