AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): The Palestinian Civil Defense in the Gaza Strip says more than 80 members of its crews have been killed since the Israeli regime launched its genocidal war against the besieged territory in October last year.
The organization said in a statement on Sunday that 83 civil defense responders were killed and 270 others were wounded over the past 11 months of the war.
“That means 40 percent of crews have been subjected to physical harm, in addition to all losing relatives or homes,” the organization said.
It added that nearly 85,000 explosives were dropped over Gaza, with 17 percent remaining unexploded, leading to the destruction of 80 percent of total urban infrastructure.
“Civil Defense headquarters were completely leveled, with 12 administrative vehicles, 11 fire engines, eight ambulances, three rescue and rapid intervention vehicles, and four water tankers also destroyed,” the statement read.
“Civil Defense crews are still suffering from a shortage of specialized rescue equipment as well as the unavailability of fuel and spare parts needed to protect lives and property.”
It also renewed its call to international rights groups to deliver more humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
The organization confirmed that at least 10,000 Palestinians remain under the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israeli strikes, and rescuers are unable to get to them due to the ongoing attacks, including the deliberate targeting of Civil Defense crews.
The statement said Civil Defense has observed about 1,760 presumed-dead Palestinians in the besieged enclave whose bodies “disintegrated” due to the use of high-intensity weapons.
Moreover, there are approximately 8,240 people who have been “forcibly disappeared” by the Israeli military, along with about 2,210 bodies that have disappeared from graves across the Gaza Strip, it added.
Israel launched its brutal onslaught on Gaza on October 7, 2023, after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas carried out a surprise operation against the usurping entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people for over seven decades.
The ongoing Israeli aggression has so far resulted in 40,939 documented Palestinian fatalities, with over 94,616 others injured.
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