More than 423,000
people have been forced to flee their homes in the Gaza Strip, the United
Nations said, following heavy Israeli bombardments in retaliation for Hamas's
attacks. As of late Thursday, the number of displaced in Gaza rose by 84,444
people to reach 423,378, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said in a statement
sent on Friday. The announcement came as Israel pounded the Gaza Strip in response
to Saturday's surprise attack, the deadliest since the country's creation in
1948.
Hamas gunmen swept
into small towns, kibbutzim, and a music festival in the desert,
indiscriminately killing more than 1,200 people and taking about 150 hostages
into Gaza. Israel has retaliated by raining air and artillery strikes on Gaza
-- -- a densely populated enclave of 2.3 million people, flattening buildings
and killing more than 1,400 people.
Israel has also
prepared for a possible ground invasion of the Palestinian territory. "Heavy
Israeli bombardments, from the air, sea, and land, have continued almost
uninterrupted," OCHA said in its update. "Multiple residential
buildings in densely populated areas have been targeted and destroyed during
the past 24 hours." It said more than 270,000 people -- two-thirds of the
displaced -- have sought shelter in schools run by the UN agency supporting
Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.
Another nearly 27,000
people had fled to schools run by the Palestinian Authority, while more than
153,000 people found shelter with relatives and neighbors and in other public
facilities. OCHA said that around 3,000 people had already been displaced
within the enclave prior to Saturday's attack.
The bombing campaign
has destroyed 752 residential and non-residential buildings, comprising 2,835
housing units, OCHA said, citing numbers from the Gaza Ministry of Public Works
and Housing. Another nearly 1,800 housing units have been damaged beyond repair
and rendered uninhabitable, it said.
The UN agency also
voiced alarm at the significant destruction of civilian infrastructure damaged
in the shelling. At least 90 educational facilities, including 20 UNRWA schools
and 70 schools run by the Palestinian Authority, have also been struck and
damaged, with one of the schools completely destroyed. "Eleven mosques
were targeted and destroyed, while seven churches and mosques sustained
damage," OCHA said.
Water and sanitation
facilities have been also hit, it said, adding that since the hostilities
began, six water wells, three water pumping stations, one water reservoir, and
one desalination plant serving more than 1,100,000 people were damaged by air
strikes.
