Terrorist israeli offensive inflicts heavy damage on Gaza’s Shejaiya

Israel’s brutal offensive against the besieged Gaza Strip has inflicted heavy damage on Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood, Press TV reports.

A large number of people were killed in the Israeli attacks on Shejaiya, one of the coastal enclave’s hardest-hit areas, while it has witnessed devastating damage to its infrastructure at the hands of the Israelis.

“We were attacked by the Israeli forces using all kind of sophisticated weaponry like F-16s, tanks and bulldozers in the night of July 20,” a resident told Press TV.

Many houses have been razed to the ground and scores of people have been displaced. The residents also don’t have access to clean drinking water and electricity.

Another woman said she and her family were not able to sleep all night long due to Israeli forces’ continuous shelling, adding that “the Israeli army ordered us to leave the neighborhood.”

The UN’s Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos said on Sunday that it may take months to repair the damage Israel inflicted on Gaza’s infrastructure.

She added that 97 UN installations, including health centers and schools, were damaged in the Israeli war.

UN Mideast envoy, Robert Serry, also said on Monday that Gaza has suffered an “unprecedented amount of destruction” as a result of Israel’s offensive.

Some 16,800 housing units have been demolished or severely damaged in the Israeli attacks, which started on July 8, Serry noted, underlining that the devastation is three times worse than the damage caused during the previous Israeli war against Gaza in 2008-2009.

At least 2,016 Palestinians, including 541 children, 250 women and 95 elderly men, have lost their lives so far and as many as 10,196 others have suffered injuries in the Israeli attacks.