Israeli 51-day offensive on Gaza last year was the “deadliest” and “most destructive escalation” since 1967, according to UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).Spokesman for the office Jens Laerke held a press conference to mark first anniversary of the Israeli offensive, on Tuesday.
Days of Palestine reports that, in July and August of last year, more than 2,260 Palestinians were killed and 11,000 injured, mostly women and children, during a 51-day Israeli military onslaught against the blockaded Gaza Strip.
Laerke told the reporters in the UN Geneva office that civilians could not leave Gaza during Israeli attacks because borders were closed during the operation and they did not have safe places to hide.
He underlined that 28 percent of Gaza’s population had been displaced during those clashes; the biggest displacement so far.
“More than 100,000 people remain displaced because some 12,500 destroyed homes cannot be rebuilt because Israel restricts the importing of building materials and the Palestinian authority cannot do its duty,” Laerke said.
“120,000 people cannot reach water,” he added. “And 80 percent of the population relies on humanitarian aid.”
Regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict, major powers, including the US, and international organisations such as the UN, call for a two-state solution, typically based on the borders before the 1967 Six-Day War.
However, Israeli officials, including president and prime minister, have been saying that they do not believe in peaceful solutions to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict based on international views such as the two-state solution.
See VIDEO: Gaza City’s Devastated Al-Shuja’eyya Suburb
