Jamon Van Den Hoek, a researcher at the Decentralized Damage Mapping Group, has helped map the physical damage of the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the war.
Van Den Hoek says that damage analysis shows a third of all buildings in northern Gaza have likely been damaged, although the scale of devastation could be even greater.
“At the high-end estimate, it’s about 50% of their buildings are likely damaged” he told VOA.
Researchers at the Decentralized Damage Mapping Group are using satellite data imaging to track changes to structures and create damage maps.
They say, however, it is impossible to ascertain the types of buildings that are damaged or destroyed.
“We don’t know what kind of buildings are bombed, we don’t know the severity, we certainly don’t know the intent of the strike,” Van Den Hoek said. “It’s really difficult to estimate, follow on estimates and say the number of people affected; we just don’t have that kind of capability.”
Speaking to VOA about the damage in Gaza, Israeli spokesperson Elyon Levy said Israel has three principals for the “day after Hamas,” — demilitarization, deradicalization and reconstruction.
“Of course, we want to see houses being built again in the Gaza Strip, but we have to make sure that this time, that the concrete goes in for people’s houses actually goes into the houses and it doesn’t go into building a whole, underground city of tunnels, like it has in recent years.”
The Israeli army on Wednesday showed a reinforced tunnel beside Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza that it said had served as a command post for Hamas fighters.
Since Israel declared war against Hamas, it has repeatedly accused the Islamic militant group of using Gaza's hospitals as cover for military use, paying close attention to Shifa Hospital and alleging Hamas has hidden command centers and bunkers underneath the hospital's grounds.
Hamas and hospital officials deny the accusations.
Experts have used videos and photos posted online to assess some extent of the damage in Gaza. In-depth surveys of properties and buildings on the ground remain difficult to obtain.
Mazin Qumsiyeh, the director of the Palestine Museum of Natural History, says some of the structures damaged or destroyed in the territory date back centuries.
“Historical archeological material in Gaza is very valuable because it's a cross section of continents,” Qumsiyeh said, referencing the history of Byzantine Empire, Egyptians, Romans, Persians and others in the region.
Early in the war, the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem reported that the Church of St. Porphyrius, Gaza’s oldest active church, was hit by an Israeli airstrike.
In addition to the historical buildings, Oumsiyah said, schools, hospitals, community centers have also been destroyed.
Across the entire enclave, over 41,000 homes — 45% of Gaza’s total housing stock — are too damaged to be livable, according to the United Nations.
Some information in this report came from Reuters and The Associated Press.
Forum