ShareOver the past year, the Zionist bombing and invasion of Gaza have exacted a terrible price on Gaza and its people. For months, the Zionist entity has terrorized Gazans, destroying their homes and killing their loved ones. About 1.9 million people, 90 percent of Gaza’s population, are estimated to have been internally displaced, half of them children. Zionist restrictions on aid have left Gazans without access to food, fuel and medicine.
The Zionist entity stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered it to ensure its forces do not commit acts of genocide and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza. Yet, the entity has not only continued its war in Gaza, but has also expanded its aggression to Lebanon, killing more than 2,000 and reducing swathes of Beirut’s suburbs and the country’s south to rubble. Marking one year since the escalation of the decades-long Zionist aggression on Gaza, Kuwait Times looks at how the attack has affected the Palestinian territory.
In ruins
No place in Gaza has been safe from Zionist bombardment. Strikes have flattened apartment complexes, destroyed clothing boutiques, cafes and playgrounds. Around 66 percent of the total structures in the Gaza Strip were destroyed or damaged, including a total of 227,591 estimated damaged housing units. Most of the damage since July 2024 was concentrated in Khan Yunis and Rafah, with around 1,470 new structures damaged in Khan Yunis and around 3,770 in Rafah, according to a UNOSAT assessment based on satellite images collected on September 3 and 6, 2024. Bombardment has destroyed or damaged 92 percent of primary roads and seriously impaired the communications infrastructure.
A joint World Bank and the United Nations report estimates the cost of damage to critical infrastructure in Gaza at around $18.5 billion. That is equivalent to 97 percent of the combined GDP of the West Bank and Gaza in 2022. Zionist attacks have targeted mosques, churches and cemeteries. Gaza’s Ministry of Religious Affairs said 79 percent of mosques in the Strip have been left in ruins. The Zionist army has flattened 814 of Gaza’s 1,245 mosques and severely damaged another 148 during its intensified bombardment, the ministry said. Along with the mosques, three churches were also destroyed, and 19 of the 60 cemeteries were deliberately targeted, according to the ministry.
Indiscriminate killing
More than 40,000 Palestinians have been reported dead since the Zionist aggression began including 34,344 identified as of August 31 as: 13,737 men; 6,297 women; 11,355 children; and 2,955 elderly. Gaza’s government media office says the Zionist army has “exterminated” 902 Palestinian families, “erasing them from the civil registry by killing all their members during a year of genocide in Gaza.” Nearly 97,000 injured people struggle to get the medical care they need with 19 out of 36 hospitals out of service. “Only 17 of 36 hospitals remain partially functional, and all suffer from a lack of fuel, medical supplies, and clean water,” Oxfam said this week. Zionist forces have killed 1,151 Palestinians working in Gaza’s health sector during its onslaught, the Palestinian health ministry said in September.
This includes nurses, paramedics, doctors, and other medical personnel. Many more have been injured. Journalists were not spared. As of October 4, 2024, at least 128 journalists and media workers were killed by the Zionist entity over the last year, a CPJ preliminary investigation showed. The organization, which promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists, said it was the deadliest period for journalists since it began gathering data in 1992. “Every time a journalist is killed, injured, arrested, or forced to go to exile, we lose fragments of the truth. Those responsible for these casualties face dual trials: one under international law and another before history’s unforgiving gaze,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna.
Out of school
Education is a source of pride for people in Gaza. The besieged territory, along with the occupied West Bank, have internationally high literacy levels. But Gaza’s education system has now collapsed, with 100 percent of Gazan children out of school since October 2023. At least 87 per cent of schools in Gaza have been directly hit or damaged, including one-third of UNRWA schools, leaving Gaza’s estimated 625,000 school-aged children unable to attend classes. All 12 of Gaza’s higher education institutions have been destroyed or damaged, leaving nearly 90,000 students stranded, and more than 350 teachers and academics have been killed, according to Palestinian official data published by Reuters.
Attacks on crops, livestock
The coastal enclave of 2.3 million people is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Since October 2023, 1.9 million people have been internally displaced and as of 9 September, 86 percent of Gaza remains under Zionist-issued evacuation orders. People have been pushed into the Zionist-designated “humanitarian/safe zone” of Al-Mawasi, which now encompasses less than 13 percent of the Gaza Strip. Like the rest of Gaza, this area has not been spared from Zionist air strikes, proving this zone is far from safe.
Across the territory, people have limited access to basic necessities, including food, water and hygiene products — 96 percent of Gaza’s 2.15 million people are projected to face worse levels of food insecurity. Water and sewage sectors in Gaza have also suffered significant damages, leaving areas of the territory covered in puddles of untreated sewage. According to Palestinian officials, over 85 percent of water and sewage facilities have either completely or partially ceased operations due to the destruction of vital infrastructure.
Attacks on Gaza’s livestock and crops have left people completely reliant on aid. According to the UN, 60-70 percent of meat and dairy-producing livestock were killed or prematurely slaughtered; 68 percent of cropland and 33 percent of greenhouse area were damaged and 70 percent of the territory’s fishing fleet was destroyed. But Zionist-imposed bureaucratic hurdles, lack of security guarantees within Gaza, insufficient border crossing points, and risk of criminal gangs looting humanitarian convoys in South Gaza have reduced aid deliveries to their lowest in September 2024. Forced evacuations have also disrupted the capacity of aid organizations to reach those in need. More than 50,000 children are estimated to require treatment for acute malnutrition in 2024.
