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Human rights group: 135,000 Palestinians displaced by Israel's ground invasion

July 21, 2014 at 11:22 am

Human rights sources confirmed yesterday that the continued Israeli ground offensive in the Gaza Strip has displaced nearly 135,000 Palestinians and destroyed thousands of homes.

The Euro-Mid Observer For Human Rights released a preliminary report on the Israeli attack on the besieged Gaza Strip, it includes details up to the thirteenth day of the aggression saying Israel’s random bombardment of border areas in the Gaza Strip has forced thousands of Palestinians to flee their homes and that until Saturday evening more than 135,000 Palestinians had been displaced.

According to the report, a number of those displaced fled their homes as a result of the aerial bombardment of their homes and that nearly half of them sought refuge in the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) schools.

Since the announcement of its ground operation against the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army has been attacking the besieged enclave from air, land and sea which primarily targets civilians’ homes.

According to the report, on Saturday Israeli forces dropped 756 shells and rockets on Gaza, 156 rockets in aerial raids and 210 shells were fired from the sea and 390 artillery shells, which raises the number of rockets and missiles fired by the Israeli army since the start of the offensive on Gaza to 6,589 shells, 3,121 shells in aerial raids, 1,545 shells from sea and 1,923 artillery shells.

The Geneva based watchdog pointed out that on Saturday 263 homes were destroyed as a result of the Israeli offensive, 33 of them were completely destroyed and another 230 were partially destroyed which raises the number of houses destroyed since the beginning of the offensive to 2,729 homes, 404 of them were completely destroyed and 2,325 were partially destroyed.

The Observatory pointed that the Israeli warplanes on Saturday targeted two mosques and partially destroyed them bringing the number of mosques targeted since the start of the attack to 40; six of them were destroyed completely. The Israeli forces have also destroyed more than six water and sanitation stations which provide services to more than 600,000 residents and attacked more than 100 schools.