The United Nations (UN) has asserted that the number of displaced Gazans has risen to more than 123,000 as a result of the fighting between the Israeli military and Hamas following the militant group’s unprecedented attack on Israel.
Africa Today News, New York reports that as at Monday morning, retaliatory Israeli airstrikes had destroyed 159 housing units across Gaza and severely damaged 1,210 others, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees said a school sheltering more than 225 people took a direct hit. It did not say where the fire came from.
Several Israeli news outlets, citing rescue service officials, said at least 700 people have been killed in Israel, including 44 soldiers.
According to the Gaza Health Ministry pointed out that 413 people, including 78 children and 41 women, were killed in the territory. About 2,000 people have been wounded on each side. An Israeli official said security forces have killed 400 militants and captured dozens more.
Read Also: Israel-Gaza War Intensifies, Death Toll Now Above 1,000
Jonathan Conricus made the statement in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. His words appeared to go further than those of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Netanyahu said Sunday that his security cabinet had made the decision to destroy Hamas’ ability to govern in a way that posed a threat to Israeli civilians.
The U.N. Security Council held an emergency meeting behind closed doors Sunday, with the United States demanding all 15 members strongly condemn ‘these heinous terrorist attacks committed by Hamas,’ but they took no immediate action.
U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood said afterward that “a good number of countries” did condemn the Hamas attack but not all council members. He told reporters they could probably figure out one of them.
Russia’s U.N. ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, told The Associated Press the Americans tried to say during the meeting that Russia isn’t condemning the attacks, but ‘that’s untrue.’