The United Nations said today (Sunday) that at least 42 percent of all housing units in the Gaza Strip were destroyed or damaged as a result of Israel’s ongoing raids for the 16th day.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported in a statement, a copy of which was received by Xinhua News Agency, that 15,100 housing units were destroyed, and 10,656 housing units were rendered uninhabitable.

The statement explained that another 139,000 housing units were subjected to minor to moderate damage, pointing to the destruction of entire neighborhoods, especially in Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahia, Al-Shujaiya, the area between Gaza and the Beach refugee camp, and Abasan Al-Kabira in Khan Yunis.

According to the statement, an assessment of the North Gaza Governorate area, conducted by the United Nations Satellite Center (UNOSAT), identified 927 destroyed buildings and 4,337 buildings that suffered moderate to severe damage, equivalent to about 15 percent of all buildings in that area.

The evaluation was based on comparing images collected on October 15, 2023 with those collected on May 1, 2023.

The statement highlighted the continuation of Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip "unabated" at a time when the cumulative death toll has reached 4,385 Palestinians, of whom 62% are children and women, while more than 1,000 Palestinian people have been reported missing and are presumed to be trapped or died under the rubble.

He pointed out that according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, 98 Palestinian families lost ten or more members, 95 Palestinian families lost between 6 and 9 members; 357 families lost between two and five members.

He stated that the number of deaths reported in Gaza in the current round of fighting is about 84 percent higher than the total number of deaths during the 50-day round of fighting in the summer of 2014 (2,251 Palestinian deaths).

The statement estimated the number of internally displaced people in Gaza at about 14 million people, with about 566,000 people living in 148 emergency shelters designated for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) under increasingly poor conditions.

According to the statement, health partners discovered cases of smallpox, scabies and diarrhea, which were attributed to poor sanitation conditions and consumption of water from unsafe sources.

He stated that infection rates of these diseases are expected to rise unless water and sanitation facilities are provided with electricity or fuel to resume their operations.

Overcrowding is increasing in UNRWA halls in the central and southern regions, with a severe shortage of basic resources such as water, food and medicine.

It is estimated that more than 15% of internally displaced people suffer from disabilities, but most shelters are not adequately equipped to meet their needs.

According to the UN statement, the shelters lack the necessary mattresses and medical beds, which causes ulcers and other medical problems that cannot be treated in non-sterile conditions, and the food distributed does not meet the needs of people who suffer from swallowing difficulties.

The total Palestinian death toll exceeded four thousand, and more than 13,000 were injured with various injuries in the Gaza Strip, as Israel's attacks on the Strip continued since October 7.

For its part, the Israeli army recently announced that it has so far notified 307 families of those killed and the families of 210 kidnapped people in Gaza, while the death toll in Israel since the beginning of the round of fighting with Hamas is about 1,400 people.