Israel destroyed 50k housing units in northern Gaza: Palestinian official

The figure was given by the chairman of the Emergency Committee for Northern Gaza Municipalities, during a press conference on Sunday.

“Some 50,000 housing units have been destroyed, and sewage networks and roads have been bulldozed in most municipalities of northern Gaza,” the official, whose name was not given by Palestinian media outlets, said.

The official noted that “35 water wells, schools, and UNRWA facilities have been destroyed, and an imminent famine is threatening northern Gaza.”

The official also declared “Jabalia [refugee camp] and Beit Hanoun [both in northern Gaza] as disaster areas due to the indescribable destruction” caused by Israel’s genocidal war.

The Palestinian official’s warning came a day after the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said in a post on X social media platform that as a result of the Israeli aggression, “Gaza has been reduced to rubble and Palestinian families have to survive in inhumane conditions with scarce water, food and supplies”.

UNRWA’s Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini has also described the destruction caused by Israeli forces in Jabalia refugee camp as “horrific”, adding that “thousands of displaced people have no choice but to live amid the rubble and in destroyed UNRWA facilities.”

It was about a month ago that a UN official said the destruction caused by Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip is unseen since the Second World War, estimating that the reconstruction of the Palestinian territory could take 80 years and cost up to $40 billion.

Abdallah al-Dardari, UN assistant secretary-general and director of the UN Development Program’s regional office for the Arab states, added that the Israeli aggression has completely or partially destroyed 72 percent of all residential buildings in Gaza.

According to Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza, the regime’s genocide has so far claimed the lives of 36,400 civilians, mostly women and children, while leaving 82,600 others injured.