Residents walk amid the destruction following an Israeli military raid in the Jenin refugee camp, in the occupied West Bank on September 6, 2024. (Photo by Ronaldo Schemidt / AFP)
Doha, Qatar: Israel’s relentless war on Gaza has killed at least 40,878 Palestinians, with more than 16,500 of them children. Most of the dead are women and children, according to the United Nations rights office.
Gaza’s health ministry announced the grim milestone, a figure that is likely an undercount as more than 10,000 missing Palestinians are believed to be buried under the rubble.
Meanwhile, the United Nations said Israel’s bombardment has damaged or destroyed two-thirds of buildings across the Strip. According to the latest data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Health Organization and the Palestinian government as of September 1, Israeli attacks have damaged:
• More than half of Gaza homes (damaged or destroyed)
• 80% of commercial facilities
• 85% of school buildings
• 65% of road networks
• 65% of cropland
• Healthcare facilities - 17 of 36 hospitals are partially functional
A child receives a vaccination for polio in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on September 5, 2024. (Photo by Bashar Taleb / AFP)
Amid deteriorating conditions, famine and deadly diseases such as polio have spread in the Strip. Gaza health ministry reported the first case of polio in 25 years last month.
"We risk the virus spreading further, including across borders,” stated Hanan Balkhy, regional director for the World Health Organization (WHO). “We need a ceasefire, even a temporary ceasefire to successfully undertake these campaigns," she said.
UNICEF said on Wednesday that more than 500 teams deployed across central Gaza administered vaccine to children under 10.
