UN Says War Took Toll on Gaza Clean Water Access

A picture shows a street in Gaza City's Rimal area that was bombed by an Israeli air strike. (File/AFP)
A picture shows a street in Gaza City's Rimal area that was bombed by an Israeli air strike. (File/AFP)
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UN Says War Took Toll on Gaza Clean Water Access

A picture shows a street in Gaza City's Rimal area that was bombed by an Israeli air strike. (File/AFP)
A picture shows a street in Gaza City's Rimal area that was bombed by an Israeli air strike. (File/AFP)

The United Nations says approximately 800,000 people in Gaza do not have regular access to clean piped water, as nearly 50 percent of the water network was damaged in the recent fighting.

Quoting Gaza’s public works and housing ministry, the UN ‘s office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said nearly 17,000 residential and commercial units have been damaged or destroyed in the 11-day campaign.

These include 769 housing and commercial units that have been rendered uninhabitable, at least 1,042 units in some 258 buildings which have been destroyed and another 14,538 units that have suffered minor damage, according to The Associated Press.

A cease-fire took effect Friday after an 11-day campaign that left more than 250 dead — the vast majority Palestinians — and brought widespread devastation to the already impoverished Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

The UN said 53 education facilities, six hospitals and 11 primary health care centers have been damaged since May 10.

One health center was severely damaged, the UN said, while one hospital is not operational because of lack of electricity. Schools in Gaza remain closed, affecting almost 600,000 children.



Former 5-time Lebanese PM Salim Hoss Dies at 94

FILE - Lebanese Prime Minister Salim Hoss is seen on April 25, 1990 in Lebanon. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Lebanese Prime Minister Salim Hoss is seen on April 25, 1990 in Lebanon. (AP Photo, File)
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Former 5-time Lebanese PM Salim Hoss Dies at 94

FILE - Lebanese Prime Minister Salim Hoss is seen on April 25, 1990 in Lebanon. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Lebanese Prime Minister Salim Hoss is seen on April 25, 1990 in Lebanon. (AP Photo, File)

Five-time former Lebanese Prime Minister Salim Hoss, who served during some of the most tumultuous years of his country’s modern history, died Sunday at age 94, the current premier said.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati described Hoss, who was also a former government minister and member of parliament, as the “conscience of Lebanon” in a statement announcing his death. He added that Hoss “passed away at the most difficult and delicate stage in which Lebanon needs its conscience.”
Mikati was referring to fears that Lebanon could be pulled into a full-on war with Israel.

Hoss “was a prominent economist and a role model for his expertise, ethics and knowledge,” Mikati said. “He placed the country’s supreme interest and the interest of citizens above all considerations.”
Hoss was often described as a technocrat and widely respected as a rare statesman in a country marked by political and sectarian divisions, The Associated Press reported.
He served as prime minister for four terms during the country’s 15-year civil war that lasted from 1975 to 1990. His final term in office was from 1998 to 2000.
At one point, he presided over one of two dueling governments. After the term of President Amin Gemayel ended in 1988 with no successor elected, Lebanon became ruled by two governments, one headed by Michel Naim Aoun in Christian east Beirut and another by Hoss in Muslim west Beirut.