According to a UN agency based on satellite images, 66% of buildings in the small Palestinian territory have been damaged by the ongoing conflict since October.
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Satellite images of the Gaza Strip, collected on September 3 and 6, show a clear deterioration in the situation. Two thirds of the buildings in the Palestinian enclave have been destroyed or damaged since October 2023, the date of the start of the war between the ruling Hamas and Israel, the UN Satellite Center (Unosat) announced on Monday September 30. “These 66% of damaged buildings in the Gaza Strip correspond to 163,778 structures in total”specified the organization hosted in Geneva (Switzerland) by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (Unitar).
The previous assessment, which was based on images dating from early July, determined that 63% of structures of this Palestinian territory had been affected, the term “structures” covering all types of construction.
According to the UN agency, 52,564 “structures” were destroyed, 18,913 were seriously damaged, 35,591 “probably” damaged and 56,710 “moderately affected”. Gaza City particularly suffered, with 36,611 buildings destroyed, adds Unosat. The latter and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) also noted that approximately 68% of permanently cultivated fields in the Gaza Strip were present in September “a significant decline in their health and density.
Unosat says its image analysis helps humanitarian organizations assess the extent of conflict-related damage in the Palestinian enclave, devastated by the Israeli offensive carried out in retaliation for the Hamas terrorist attacks on October 7. These images should also help prepare emergency relief operations, while civilian prisoners in the Gaza Strip face a catastrophic humanitarian situation, warns the UN.