The American Wall Street Journal published a report on the impact of the devastation caused by the Israeli aggression on Gaza, describing that the war left destruction comparable to the most destructive campaign in modern history.
The newspaper indicated that Israel dropped 29,000 bombs, destroying approximately 70% of the homes in the Strip. She added that the bombing had damaged Byzantine churches, historic mosques, factories, commercial centers, luxury hotels, theaters and schools.
She confirmed that a large part of the water, electricity, communications, and healthcare infrastructure in the Gaza Strip has become beyond repair.
The report also stated that most of the Gaza Strip’s 36 hospitals are closed, and treatment is accepted in only 8 hospitals. In addition, the occupation destroyed olive groves, citrus trees, and greenhouses. This means that almost half of the buildings in Gaza were damaged or destroyed.
According to the World Bank report, by December 12, the war had destroyed 77% of health facilities, 72% of municipal services such as parks, courts, and libraries, 68% of communications infrastructure, and 76% of commercial sites, including almost complete destruction. For the industrial zone in the north.
According to the United Nations, approximately 342 schools were damaged, including 70 private schools. More than half of the roads have been damaged, according to the World Bank.
On the other hand, Israel said that the campaign and ground attack led to the deaths of thousands of victims in its intended target; Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas). According to Israeli officials, the war on Gaza is Israel’s response to the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation launched by Hamas on October 7.
Destruction of World War II
Robert Pape, a political scientist at the University of Chicago and a writer on the history of aerial bombing, said: “The term ‘Gaza’ will remain in history alongside Dresden and other famous cities that were bombed. What you see in Gaza is considered to be in the top 25% of heavy punishment campaigns in history.”
It is worth noting that 3 months ago, Gaza was a lively place. Despite decades of Israeli occupation siege, many Palestinians enjoyed living there next to the Mediterranean Sea, where they gathered in cafes and seafood restaurants. Families were playing on the beach, and young men would gather around the television in the evening to watch football matches. There was life in Gaza before the Israeli aggression on the Strip.
But today, Gaza’s devastation resembles German cities during World War II. In northern Gaza, the focus of the initial Israeli attack, people still there move through rubble-strewn streets past bombed shops and residential buildings. Broken glass is scattered on the ground underfoot, as Israeli marches fly in the sky.
In the south, where more than a million displaced people have fled, Palestinians sleep in the street and burn garbage to cook. According to the United Nations, about 85% of the Strip’s population of 2.2 million people have fled their homes, and now reside in less than two-thirds of the area due to Israeli evacuation orders.
Satellite images of Gaza
The newspaper noted that experts assessed the damage by analyzing satellite images and using remote sensing, a method that monitors physical characteristics by measuring reflected and emitted radiation from a long distance.
The experts said their findings are preliminary and will need to be verified on the ground, but they are likely an underestimate of the actual extent of the damage. According to an analysis of satellite data by remote sensing experts at New York University and Oregon State University, approximately 80 percent of the buildings in northern Gaza, where the bombing was most intense, were damaged or destroyed, a higher percentage than in Dresden.
Hu Yin, an assistant professor of geography at Kent State University in Ohio, estimated that 20% of agricultural land in Gaza had been damaged or destroyed. He pointed out that the winter wheat, which should be in the growth stage currently, does not appear, which indicates that it has not been planted.
The Israeli aggression did not avoid historical sites, as it destroyed the Great Al-Omari Mosque, which was an ancient building that was transformed from a church in the fifth century into a mosque, by collapsing its minaret. Last October, Israel bombed the Church of St. Porphyrios, which dates back to the fifth century, resulting in the martyrdom of at least 16 Palestinians who were taking refuge there.
The city is unlivable
Eyal Weizman, an Israeli-British architect who studies Israel’s approach to the environment in the Palestinian territories, said Gaza “is not a livable city anymore.”
He added that any reconstruction would require “a whole new system of underground infrastructure, because when you attack the topsoil, everything that goes through the ground is torn up; water, gas, sewage.”
An analysis by The Shelter Cluster, which includes a group of relief groups led by the Norwegian Refugee Council, concluded that after the current war ends, it will take at least a year to clean up just the rubble, a task complicated by the necessity of safely removing unexploded mines.
The group said that rebuilding the housing would take 7 to 10 years, if financing is available. The cost is estimated at about $3.5 billion, not including the cost of providing temporary accommodation.
Since last October 7, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza, which as of Friday resulted in the death of 21,507 Palestinians and the injury of 55,915 others, most of them children and women. This war also caused massive destruction of infrastructure and led to an “unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe,” according to Palestinian and international reports.