UPDATED ON:
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
12:34 Mecca time, 09:34 GMT
News Middle East
Gazans count cost of war
Palestinians say 25,000 buildings were damaged
or destroyed in Israel's assault on Gaza [EPA]
Palestinians returning to their neighbourhoods have begun to unearth the true
scale of destruction left by Israel's 22-day offensive on the Gaza Strip.
But as Gazans surveyed the damage and awaited help, shaky ceasefires declared
separately by Israel and Palestinian fighters continued to hold on Tuesday.
Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, is also set to survey the destruction in
a trip to Gaza during the day.
Estimates for the rebuilding of Gaza's devastated infrastructure have been put
at billions of dollars.
Dire situation
In video
Unearthing Gaza's destruction
Israel's scorched earth tactics
John Holmes, the UN humanitarian chief, says hundreds of millions of dollars in
emergency aid supplies will be needed for the people of Gaza.
Although 100,000 people had running water restored in their homes as of Sunday,
400,000 were still without it, Holmes said.
Electricity in Gaza is available for less than half the day and about 100,000
people have been displaced by the war.
Despite the three-week Israeli onslaught that killed more than 1,300
Palestinians and destroyed thousands of buildings, Hamas and other Palestinian
factions claimed victory in the fighting.
Israel had said the aim of its operations in Gaza was to cripple Hamas's
ability to launch rockets into the south of the country.
But a masked man calling himself Abu Obeida and claiming to be a spokesman for
Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's armed wing, said the group's
rocket-launching capacity had not been diminished, and threatened to renew
fighting if Israeli forces did not withdraw.
"They [Israel] say they weakened Hamas. We assure you that what we have lost in
this war is nothing compared to what we [still] have," he said in a televised
news conference on Monday.
Abu Obeida vowed that Hamas would replenish its arsenal of rockets and other
weapons, in defiance of any Israeli or international efforts to cut off
smuggling routes.
"Do whatever you want, bringing in and manufacturing the holy weapons is our
mission, and we know how to acquire weapons," he said.
Disease fears
GAZA TOLL
At least 1,300 people killed, including more than 400 children and more than
100 women
At least 5,300 Palestinians injured, including nearly 1,900 children and 800
women
At least 100,000 people forced from their homes
At least 13 Israelis killed, including three civilians
Meanwhile, scores of bodies have been discovered in the rubble of destroyed
buildings since the fighting was halted.
Abed Sharafi, an ambulance driver, said on Monday that he had helped pull out
the bodies of 15 children and women from under their house.
"They were so badly decomposed that we couldn't distinguish boys from girls.
Some had been there for 15 days," he said.
Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin, reporting from Gaza City, said the World Health
Organisation was warning of an outbreak of disease with bodies now several
weeks old and sewage flowing over many areas because of the destruction to
infrastructure.
The deposed Hamas-led government in Gaza estimates that more than 5,000
buildings were completely destroyed and 20,000 damaged or partially destroyed
in the fighting.
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
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Jusfiq Hadjar gelar Sutan Maradjo Lelo
Allah yang disembah orang Islam tipikal dan yang digambarkan oleh al-Mushaf itu
dungu, buas, kejam, keji, ganas, zalim lagi biadab hanyalah Allah fiktif.
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