Experts said that the Israeli military campaign on the Gaza Strip is now among the bloodiest and most destructive campaigns in history, and what the aggression on Gaza caused exceeds the devastation caused by the Allied bombing of Germany in World War II.
A little more than two months later, the Israeli aggression on Gaza has caused more destruction than the destruction of Syria’s Aleppo between 2012 and 2016, or Mariupol in Ukraine, or – proportionately – the Allied bombing of Germany in World War II, according to an Associated Press report.
According to the report, Israel killed more civilians in its aggression against the Gaza Strip than the US-led coalition killed in its 3-year campaign against ISIS.
The violent Israeli bombing led to the destruction of more than two-thirds of the buildings in northern Gaza and a quarter of the buildings in the southern area of Khan Yunis, according to an analysis of the Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellite data conducted by experts in mapping war damage, Corey Sher of the Graduate Center at the University of Gaza. New York City, and Jamon van den Hoek of Oregon State University.
The two experts said that the percentage of damaged buildings in the Khan Yunis area nearly doubled during just the first two weeks of the Israeli aggression in southern Gaza.
This includes tens of thousands of homes across Gaza, as well as schools, hospitals, mosques and shops.
United Nations observers say that about 70% of school buildings across Gaza were damaged. At least 56 damaged schools served as shelters for displaced civilians. Observers said that the Israeli raids destroyed 110 mosques and 3 churches.
Through fragments of the explosion found at the site and analyzing footage of the raid, experts are confident that the vast majority of bombs dropped on Gaza were American-made. They say the weapons include 2,000 pounds (900 kilograms) of “bunker buster” missiles that have killed hundreds in densely populated areas.
Despite the number of martyrs of the Israeli aggression on Gaza exceeding 20,000 martyrs, most of whom were women and children, and the international community’s repeated calls for a ceasefire, Israel insists on moving forward, saying that it wants to destroy the military capabilities of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).
The administration of US President Joe Biden quietly continues to supply weapons to Israel. But last week, the US President publicly admitted that Israel was losing international legitimacy because of what he called its “indiscriminate bombing.”
The New York Times quoted sources that Washington had sent to Israel since last October more than 5,000 MK-84 ammunition weighing 2,000 pounds, noting that the US Department of Defense (the Pentagon) had increased shipments of bombs sent to Israel. Small ones are most suitable for urban areas such as Gaza.
