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South Africa Says Israel is Ignoring Court Ruling as More are Killed in North Gaza

A man holds the Palestinian flag during a protest in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, in Mosul, Iraq, October 14, 2023. (Reuters)
A man holds the Palestinian flag during a protest in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, in Mosul, Iraq, October 14, 2023. (Reuters)
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South Africa Says Israel is Ignoring Court Ruling as More are Killed in North Gaza

A man holds the Palestinian flag during a protest in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, in Mosul, Iraq, October 14, 2023. (Reuters)
A man holds the Palestinian flag during a protest in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, in Mosul, Iraq, October 14, 2023. (Reuters)

South Africa’s foreign minister said that Israel is ignoring the ruling by the United Nations’ top court last week, which ordered Israel to do all it can to prevent death, by killing hundreds more civilians in a matter of days in Gaza, The Associated Press reported on Thursday.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says more than 150 people were killed and an additional 313 wounded as Israeli forces continued to battle militants Wednesday in the northern part of the territory, the initial target of Israel's ground offensive into the Gaza Strip that has seen entire neighborhoods flattened. Israel’s military said its forces killed more than 15 Hamas members in northern Gaza in the past day and targeted their infrastructure in a school.
The latest deaths bring the Palestinian death toll from Israel’s offensive to 26,900, according to the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry. It does not distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths but says most of those killed were women and children.

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Arab World

UN Housing Expert Says Gaza Has Experienced an 'Unprecedented Rain of Destruction'

Palestinians rest under the rubble of their destroyed house, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, October 10, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians rest under the rubble of their destroyed house, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, October 10, 2024. (Reuters)
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UN Housing Expert Says Gaza Has Experienced an 'Unprecedented Rain of Destruction'

Palestinians rest under the rubble of their destroyed house, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, October 10, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians rest under the rubble of their destroyed house, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, October 10, 2024. (Reuters)

Gaza has experienced “a biblical, unprecedented rain of destruction” since Israel launched its military offensive following Hamas’ attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7 last year, the UN housing expert said.

Balakrishnan Rajagopal, the UN independent investigator on the right to adequate housing, told reporters Friday that “the ferocity” of destruction in Gaza wasn’t seen in the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine.

By January 2024, Rajagopal said, 60-70% of all homes in Gaza were destroyed, and in northern Gaza it was 82% of homes. “It is far worse than that right now,” particularly in the north which is approaching the 100% level, he said.

Israel’s UN Mission had no comment on the UN rapporteur’s statements.

Rajagopal said a recent report by the UN Development Program estimated that in May there were over 39 million tons of debris in Gaza, and he said that rubble is mixed with unexploded ordnance, toxic waste, asbestos from collapsed buildings, and other material.

“The groundwater pollution and the soil contamination are so catastrophic that we don’t know if they can ever be remedied in time for people to move back at least within this generation,” he said.

How long will it take to rebuild Gaza?

Rajagopal said first the debris has to be removed, secondly there must be financing, and then “there is another big elephant in the room, which is that no reconstruction can happen unless the occupation ends.” That’s because Israel has restricted building materials and equipment to rebuild, which it contends have dual uses, he said.

After the 2014 war in Gaza, Rajagopal said, less than 1,000 homes were built every year.

The UNDP report estimated that about 80,000 homes have been destroyed in the current war, so it would take about 80 years to rebuild if the occupation continues, he said.