Palestinian municipal authorities have declared the towns of Jabalia and Beit Hanoon, in the northern Gaza Strip, “disaster zones”.
Naji Sarhan, head of the Municipal Emergency Committee, told a news conference on Sunday that Israeli forces destroyed some 50,000 homes and bulldozed drainage networks and roads in most of the northern municipalities of Gaza.
“The Jabalia refugee camp and the town of Beit Hanoon are now disaster areas,” he said.
Sarhan added that 35 water wells and several schools and facilities run by the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) were also destroyed.
“The population of northern Gaza lives in difficult humanitarian conditions, with most residents lacking food, medicine and fuel,” he said.
The Palestinian official called on the UN and international organizations to “immediately intervene to provide aid to the Gaza Strip.”
The crippling blockade imposed by Israel on the Gaza Strip since October 7 has left the territory’s population on the brink of famine, particularly in northern Gaza, which is home to nearly 700,000 people.
Last month, Israel captured the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing on the border with Egypt, a vital route for humanitarian aid entering the Palestinian enclave.
Israel launched a brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip following an October 7 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas, which killed around 1,200 people and captured nearly 240 others.
The bombing killed more than 36,400 people, the vast majority of them women and children, and injured more than 82,600 others, according to local health authorities.
