The AP has recently reported on a newly released UN report which claims that the IDF used an 11-year old boy as a human shield during the course of Operation Cast Lead. It makes other serious allegations of massive human rights violations committed by the Israelis during the Gaza offensive. In this diary, I will present a rundown of the most eye-catching statistics that are documented in this report. It is certainly not an easy read.
- Before Operation Cast Lead even began, an estimated 79 percent of all Gazans were living below the governmental poverty line.
- According to the World Bank, around 98 percent of Gaza industrial operations are inactive due to the Israeli closure regime.
- The offensive destroyed some 4,240 homes and damaged 44,306. This means that 2.6 percent of all homes in Gaza were completely destroyed and 20% were damaged. This rendered 80,000 to 90,000 people homeless.
- "Countless communities in Gaza have been rendered virtually uninhabitable. In urban areas and several refugee camps in the northern part of Gaza, entire neighborhoods have been flattened."
- The damage caused to water tanks caused 500,000 people to lose their source of running water.
- 80 percent of agricultural land and crops were damaged in the fighting.
- Close to half of all children under the age of two suffer from anaemia and two thirds of all children suffer from a lack of vitamin A.
- "16 medical workers were killed and 25 injured while on duty... 15 hospitals, 43 primary health centres and 29 ambulances were destroyed"
- Seven public schools were seriously damaged and 236 schools of all types were at least partially damaged.
- "UNFPA findings for the period during the crisis showed a 40 per cent increase in cases of miscarriage admitted to maternities, a 50 per cent increase in neonatal deaths and an important increase in the number of premature deliveries."
- "From the launch of "Operation Cast Lead" on 27 December 2008 until the ceasefire of 17 January 2009, the extensive Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) led air and ground operations within Gaza 1,440 people were reported killed, including at least 314 children, as verified by the inter-agency working group, and 5,380 injured, including 1,872 children; up to 200,000 people, including 112,000 children, displaced and movement for the majority of the population severely restricted."
- "Many children have been injured during the period of fighting and the PA MoH reports 1,855 children injured while independent monitors report at least 860 children have sustained injuries. Handicap International estimates that up to 50 percent of people injured have sustained severe injuries that, without proper rehabilitation, could result in permanent disability."