Gaza City [Gaza], July 3: More than 90 percent of the Gaza Strip has been destroyed, and Israeli forces are in control of 80 percent of the besieged territory, authorities in the enclave say, as the world marks 1,000 days since Israel's genocidal war on Gaza began.
Tallying up the extent of the damage since Israel launched its war on October 7, 2023, Gaza's Government Media Office said in a statement that at least 73,066 Palestinians have been killed in the enclave.
More than 21,500 of those killed in Gaza were children, including 1,022 babies, it added. A further 9,500 people are missing, many believed to be buried under rubble, while 173,514 have been wounded.
It added that about 223,000 tonnes of explosives have been dropped by Israel on Gaza during the war - 16 times more than what the United States dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945 with the atomic bomb.
With most of Gaza in ruins, the "ceasefire" framework meant to end the conflict is also faltering six months after its centrepiece body was established. The US-created Board of Peace, established in January to oversee the "ceasefire" and steer reconstruction under a three-phase plan endorsed by the United Nations Security Council, has failed to secure Israeli compliance, analysts said. Instead of a gradual withdrawal that the plan envisions, Israel has expanded its control of Gaza, and only a third of the aid trucks it committed to allow into the enclave daily are entering.
Source: Qatar Tribune
