Donor-funded facilities not spared Israeli bombardment in Gaza

By Anadolu staff

JERUSALEM (AA) - Israel’s bombardment campaign in the Gaza Strip has targeted several donor-funded facilities in the blockaded Palestinian enclave.

Israel launched relentless airstrikes on Gaza following a cross-border attack on Israeli towns on Oct. 7.

According to Gaza’s Government Media Office, more than 5,600 housing units were totally destroyed and 9,000 units and 160 schools were damaged in the Israeli strikes.

The UN Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, said 40 UN-run facilities also sustained damage in the Israeli airstrikes since Oct. 7.

Nearly half a million displaced Palestinians are estimated to be sheltering in 93 UN-run schools in Gaza, the UN agency said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) also said that 170 health facilities funded by foreign donors were bombed by Israel in Gaza.

Last week, the European Gaza Hospital, funded by the European Union, sustained damage in an Israeli airstrike in the seaside territory.

The attack followed a deadly strike on the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in southern Gaza that left at least 471 people dead, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Israel has denied responsibility for the hospital bombing, but the army phoning in warnings just before the attack bolsters the case that Israel carried out the airstrike.

The hospital is known as the Baptist hospital for historical reasons, but it has been under the Anglican Church, or Church of England, since the early 1980s.

The conflict in Gaza, which has been under Israeli bombardment and a blockade since Oct. 7, began when the Palestinian group Hamas initiated Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, a multi-pronged surprise attack that included a barrage of rocket launches and infiltrations into Israel by land, sea and air. It said the incursion was in retaliation for the storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque and growing violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians.

The Israeli military then launched Operation Swords of Iron against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip.

More than 7,100 people have been killed in the conflict, including at least 5,791 Palestinians and 1,400 Israelis.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara