VOI, Jakarta - About 50 percent of Palestinian residential units have been partially or completely damaged by the ongoing Israeli offensive in the coastal enclave, a Palestinian official said on Sunday (Oct 22). "The Israeli occupation deliberately damaged residential buildings, public facilities, and service facilities," Salama Maarouf, head of the Hamas-run state media office in Gaza, said in a press statement. "As a result of the intensified Israeli airstrikes, more than 165,000 housing units were partially damaged and nearly 20,000 housing units were completely destroyed or uninhabitable," Maarouf said.
As a result, around 70 percent of local residents were displaced from their homes and moved to 220 shelter centers or other places throughout the Gaza Strip. The Israeli airstrikes were triggered by Hamas' large-scale attacks on Israeli military targets and cities on October 7, which have so far killed at least 1,400 people in Israel. The number of Palestinians killed by Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip rose to 4,651, the Hamas-run Palestinian Health Ministry said on Sunday. (VOI)