GENEVA: Some 55 percent of all structures in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed or damaged in the eight months of relentless Israeli bombardments, according to an analysis by the UN.
The United Nations satellite analysis agency UNOSAT on X, formerly Twitter, said that more than 137,000 buildings were affected in Gaza.
The estimate is based on a satellite image taken on May 3, and compared with other images taken in May last earlier, last September, and on October 15.
UNOSAT said the latest satellite image was also compared to images taken during November, then again in the first months of the current year.
The agency in a statement said according to satellite image analysis, UNOSAT identified 36,591 destroyed buildings.
It further said it had observed 16,513 severely damaged structures, 47,368 moderately damaged structures, and 36,825 possibly damaged structures making a total of 137,297 structures.
It said around 55 percent of the total structures in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed.
According to the UNOSAT, the image comparisons showed Deir Al-Balah governorate, in the center, and Gaza, in the north, had suffered the worst form of destruction from April 1 to May 3.
Comparing satellite images on those dates showed that an additional 2,613 structures had also been damaged in Deir Al-Balah, while another 2,368 had been destroyed in the Gaza governorate in just a month.
Within Deir Al-Balah, the Nuseirat municipality suffered the greatest damage.
The UN agency stressed that the findings were still part of an initial analysis, which had yet to be validated on the ground.
