Israel’s relentless bombardment of Gaza for nearly three months has destroyed 70 percent of homes in the besieged Palestinian enclave, according to the government media office.
No further details were provided, but an earlier report said more than 200 heritage and archaeological sites were destroyed in the Israeli bombardment considered the most destructive in modern history.
About 300,000 homes out of 439,000 were destroyed in Israeli attacks, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Analyzing satellite images, the report adds that the 29,000 bombs dropped on the Gaza Strip targeted residential areas, Byzantine churches, hospitals and shopping centers and that all civilian infrastructure was damaged to such an extent that They cannot be repaired.
“The word ‘Gaza’ is going to go down in history along with Dresden (Germany) and other famous cities that were bombed,” said Robert Pape, a political scientist at the University of Chicago who has written about the history of aerial bombardments. told the WSJ.
In almost two months, the offensive has caused more destruction than the destruction of Aleppo in Syria between 2012 and 2016, than that of Mariupol in Ukraine or, proportionately, than the Allied bombing of Germany during World War II . It has killed more civilians than the US-led coalition during its three-year campaign against the Islamic State group (ISIS).
Between 1942 and 1945, the Allies attacked 51 major German cities, destroying about 40 to 50 percent of their urban areas, Pape told the Associated Press news agency.
“Gaza is one of the most intense campaigns of civil repression in history,” Pape said. “It now sits comfortably in the top quartile of the most devastating bombing campaigns ever carried out. »
Corey Scher of the CUNY Graduate Center and Jamon Van Den Hoek of Oregon State University told the AP: “Gaza is now a different color than space. It’s a different texture.
The deadliest in recent history
According to experts, the Israeli military campaign in Gaza is also among the deadliest in recent history, killing more than 21,500 people and injuring 55,000. More than 1,000 children have had limbs amputated during Israeli attacks since October 7.
The Israeli army claims to have targeted Hamas fighters, who carried out a deadly attack in Israel on October 7. Some 1,200 people were killed in the attack, which sparked the current phase of the conflict.
Hamas says its attack was a response to Israel’s continued blockade of Gaza and the expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Palestinians view Israeli settlements – which are considered illegal under international law – as the greatest obstacle to the realization of their future state.
The level of destruction is so high because “Hamas is very entrenched among the civilian population,” Efraim Inbar, director of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, a think tank, told the AP .
But experts have criticized Israel for bombing Gaza – which is one of the most densely populated areas in the world, home to 2.3 million people across 365 square kilometers of territory.
Media and rights groups say an overwhelming majority of those killed are civilians – more than 70 percent of them children, women and the elderly. More than 90 percent of the enclave’s population is now displaced, with humanitarian groups warning of hunger and epidemics. Aid delivery has been restricted by Israel, worsening the crisis.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military has said little about the types of bombs and artillery it is using in Gaza. Based on explosion fragments found on site and analyzes of strike images, experts are convinced that the vast majority of bombs dropped on the besieged enclave were American-made. They say these weapons include 2,000-pound (900 kg) “bunker-busters” that have killed hundreds of people in densely populated areas.
The US news network CNN reported on December 14 that about half of all Israeli munitions dropped on Gaza were imprecise “dumb” bombs, which pose a greater threat to civilians.
Earlier this week, an Israeli military official admitted that the high death toll in a Christmas Eve attack on a refugee camp in central Gaza was the result of the use of inappropriate munitions, highlighting tactics soldiers who caused a large number of civilian casualties.
Israeli newspaper +972 also previously reported that the Israeli military had relaxed its standards for acceptable harm to civilians resulting from attacks, leading to the deaths of more civilians than in previous rounds of attacks. military assaults.
Human Rights Watch has accused Israel of using banned white phosphorus. Israel has denied the allegations.
The Israeli military has reiterated that each strike is authorized by legal advisers to ensure it complies with international law.
“We choose the right munition for each target, so that it does not cause unnecessary damage,” said the army’s chief spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari.
