Over 1,300 bldgs destroyed in Gaza: UN

FE Team | Published: October 14, 2023 21:15:47

GENEVA, Oct 14 (AFP/AP): More than 1,300 buildings in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed, the United Nations said Saturday, after nearly a week of fierce bombardment by Israeli forces.
The UN's humanitarian agency OCHA said "5,540 housing units" in those buildings were destroyed and nearly 3,750 more homes were so badly damaged they were uninhabitable.
UN chief for protection
of basic human rights
UN chief Antonio Guterres appealed Friday for the protection of basic human rights as the Israel-Hamas conflict spiraled, stressing that "even wars have rules" and warning against using hostages as human shields.
"The situation in Gaza has reached a dangerous new low," Guterres said ahead of a Security Council meeting on the volatile situation.
"We need immediate humanitarian access throughout Gaza, so that we can get fuel, food and water to everyone in need," he said, adding that the blockaded enclave's health system was on the brink of collapse.
Guterres' call for the protection of civilians came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country's fierce bombardment of Gaza was "just the beginning" of the response to Hamas attacks launched on Saturday that left 1,300 -- mostly civilians-dead.
Hamas gunmen also abducted around 150 Israelis and foreigners, taking them to Gaza as hostages.
Nearly 1,900 Gazans-again most of them civilians and including over 600 children-have been killed in the waves of missile strikes on the densely populated enclave, the health ministry said.
"Even wars have rules," Guterres said. "International humanitarian law and human rights law must be respected and upheld; civilians must be protected and also never used as shields.
"It is imperative that all parties-and those with influence over them-do everything possible to achieve these steps."
Israel has given more than one million Palestinians 24 hours to leave the northern Gaza Strip ahead of an expected ground offensive-an exodus that Guterres said earlier Friday would set off a "humanitarian catastrophe."
Iran's foreign minister calls on
Israel to stop Gaza attacks
Iran's foreign minister on Saturday called on Israel to stop its attacks on Gaza, warning that the war might expand to other parts of the Middle East if Hezbollah joins the battle, and that would make Israel suffer "a huge earthquake."
Hossein Amirabdollahian told reporters in Beirut that Lebanon's Hezbollah group has taken all the scenarios of a war into consideration and Israel should stop its attacks on Gaza as soon as possible.
Israel considers Hezbollah its most serious immediate threat, estimating it has some 150,000 rockets and missiles, including precision-guided missiles that can hit anywhere in Israel. The group, which has thousands of battle-hardened fighters who participated in Syria's 12-year conflict, also has different types of military drones.
Hezbollah fighters have been on full alert along Lebanon's borders with Israel following last Saturday's attack by the militant Palestinian group Hamas that left hundreds of Israeli civilians and soldiers dead.
On Saturday, the Israeli military said an Israeli drone strike along the border with Lebanon killed a "cell" that was trying to infiltrate into Israel. On Friday, Hezbollah said its fighters fired several rockets at four Israel positions along the border.
Amirabdollahian said he met Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who briefed him on the group's conditions in Lebanon.
Russia calls for
cease-fire at UN
Russia's ambassador to the United Nations called for a "humanitarian cease-fire" in the Gaza Strip and Israel on Friday, while blaming the United States for the ongoing conflict.
The Russian draft resolution, presented to the Security Council and seen by AFP, calls for an "immediate" ceasefire and the secure release of all hostages, and "strongly condemns all violence and hostilities directed against civilians and all acts of terrorism."
The document did not specifically name Hamas, the militant group that governs Gaza and on Saturday burst through the heavily militarized border into Israel and killed 1,300 people, mostly civilians.