The Israeli army intensified its bombing of the industrial sector and facilities in the Gaza Strip, and continued to destroy the remaining infrastructure, which has witnessed 6 military operations in the past 15 years.

Video clips over the past four days showed an increase in targeting of factories, which have been halted since the beginning of the aggression on Gaza due to the lack of energy and water, and to a lesser extent, communications networks.

For the 11th day, the Israeli army continues to target the Gaza Strip with intense air strikes that destroyed entire neighborhoods that included industrial and commercial facilities and left thousands dead and wounded among Palestinian civilians.

At dawn on October 7, the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas and other Palestinian factions in Gaza launched Operation “Al-Aqsa Flood,” which the Israeli army responded by launching its aggression against the Gaza Strip.

Destruction of the economy

The Minister of National Economy in the Palestinian government, Khaled Asili, said that 50,000 industrial and commercial facilities are spread in the Gaza Strip, according to 2022 statistics.

Al-Osaily mentioned in an interview with Anadolu that these facilities have become a target, in addition to humans and trees, for Israeli missiles, and that these facilities range in size from factories to commercial stores in the markets.

He added, "The complete destruction of economic life is being practiced by Israel today. We are talking about unprecedented losses in the history of military operations in the Gaza Strip."

The teams of the Ministry of Economy and relevant institutions are unable to trace the effects of the 11 days of the Israeli war, due to the difficulty of movement between the cities of the Gaza Strip, which are witnessing severe bombardment.

Of the total number of facilities in Gaza, there are approximately 3,000 factories, of which 2,000 were operating until the eve of the start of the aggression, and the rest have been suspended for years.

Even the factories that were operating, their production capacity did not exceed 30% of their full capacity, due to the lack of raw materials, electrical power and export restrictions.

Since October 7, all factories have closed their doors, while neither the Palestinian Ministry of Economy nor the Businessmen Association have any statistics on the extent of the destruction, due to the inability of the crews to move.

Destruction of infrastructure

Al-Osaili said, "There are no longer streets, no sewage networks, and above all, Israel has eliminated the corroded electricity networks. (They) have run out of gas and fuel, while the workers are straining to provide shelter for their families."

In Gaza, factories were operating in the clothing and textile sectors, food industries, wood and furniture manufacturing, some metal industries, and the manufacture of some types of fertilizers.

According to data from the Palestinian Businessmen Association in Gaza, these 2,000 factories provided about 25,000 direct jobs and about 35,000 indirect jobs.

Until the end of the second quarter of 2023, the unemployment rate in Gaza was 46.4%, meaning 245,000 unemployed individuals, according to data from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.

Destruction of the communications sector

The communications sector - which is one of the pillars of industry in Gaza - was also a target of the Israeli bombing, as a document issued last Thursday by the Palestinian Telecommunications Group Company - which operates landline telephones and the Internet in addition to cell phones - shows numbers affected by the bombing.

According to the preliminary results of the Palestinian Telecommunications Group, 35% of the terminals of the fixed telephone network and home Internet were disrupted, affecting more than 50% of subscribers, a percentage that increased in the following five days.

The bombing caused complete destruction in some areas and partial destruction in other areas within the Strip, including poles, cables, and fiber-optic lines that connect Gaza internally.

The damage did not stop at this level, but exceeded it, causing interruptions on the main fiber-optic paths that connect the Gaza Strip to the West Bank and the outside world.

40% of cellular phone subscribers in the Gaza Strip were affected after half of the cellular network towers and sites were down, amid efforts by crews to supply the towers with the remaining fuel.