The UN said on Wednesday that Israeli forces have damaged or destroyed 83% of all buildings in Gaza City as the IDF continues to strike the city despite the ongoing ceasefire talks in Egypt.
“Today, the UN Satellite Centre published a preliminary analysis showing that the extent of damage in Gaza City alone encompasses 83% of the structures. About 81,000 housing units have been damaged,” said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric, according to the Anadolu Agency.
Since early August, the IDF has been conducting an offensive in famine-stricken Gaza City with the aim of cleansing its Palestinian population and destroying every building. Israeli forces have been razing entire neighborhoods block by block and have also conducted airstrikes to topple high-rise apartment buildings.
The IDF appears to have eased up its offensive in Gaza City amid the ceasefire negotiations, but they haven’t stopped completely. Al Jazeera reported that Israeli forces bombed eastern Gaza City on Wednesday evening and said it was unclear if there were any casualties. Earlier in the day, the IDF claimed it targeted Hamas fighters attempting to target Israeli troops occupying Gaza City.
Dujarric said that “Israeli military operations have continued, including in the Rimal and Zaitoun neighborhoods in Gaza City, making the already dire humanitarian situation even more perilous.” He added that “many people are unable to leave the north due to insecurity.”
Throughout its offensive in Gaza City, the Israeli military has ordered all civilians to flee to the south, but it has continued to bomb central and southern Gaza. There have been several reported cases of families who followed the Israeli orders and went south, only to be killed by an Israeli strike.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has threatened the hundreds of thousands of remaining civilians in Gaza City by saying that anyone who stays in the city will be treated as a “terrorist.”
