Almost 70% of Gaza homes damaged or destroyed — Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal reports that almost half of Gaza’s buildings have been damaged or destroyed in the war there, a figure that also accounts for almost 70 percent of its 439,000 homes.

The report cites analysis of satellite photography of the Strip and other remote sensing methods.

The paper noted buildings hit include factories, houses of prayer, schools, shopping malls and hotels. Israel has said many schools, mosques and other buildings have been hit after being used for military purposes and as bases of operation by Gaza terror groups.

WSJ adds that only eight of Gaza’s 36 hospitals can accept patients, and that most basic infrastructure including water, electricity and communications is demolished.

“The word ‘Gaza’ is going to go down in history along with Dresden and other famous cities that have been bombed,” Robert Pape, a political scientist at the University of Chicago who has written about the history of aerial bombing, tells the paper.

Citing the Shelter Cluster, a group of aid groups led by the Norwegian Refugee Council, it says “it will take at least a year just to clear the rubble,” in Gaza after the war, “a task complicated by having to safely remove unexploded ordnance.”

Rebuilding Gaza’s housing, according to the Shelter Cluster, “will take seven to 10 years,” if the $3.5 billion needed to do so is made available.