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Four in Five of Gaza’s Mosques, All Three Churches Devastated in Year-Long Israeli Bombing Campaign

© AP Photo / Yousef MasoudPeople stand outside a mosque destroyed in an Israeli air strike in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Sunday, Oct.8, 2023.
People stand outside a mosque destroyed in an Israeli air strike in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Sunday, Oct.8, 2023.  - Sputnik International, 1920, 06.10.2024
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At least two dozen people were killed and nearly 100 injured in an airstrike on a mosque sheltering displaced persons in the city of Deir al Balah, central Gaza early Sunday. The IDF confirmed responsibility for the strike, alleging that the mosque and a nearby school were used by Hamas as a command post.
Some 814 of 1,245 mosques in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed, another 148 partially damaged, and all three of the strip’s churches ravaged. Those are the stark conclusions reached by Gaza’s Ministry of Religious Affairs on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the Gaza war, which has become the deadliest chapter in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict since 1948.
According to the ministry, 19 of 60 cemeteries in its care have been targeted, eight destroyed, and 11 damaged, and grave sites and remains have been exhumed, desecrated, plundered, and mutilated in areas where Israeli troops have operated.
The campaign of Israeli airstrikes is estimated to have destroyed some 79% of all religious sites in the enclave, causing some $350 million in damage. Eleven of 14 administrative and educational facilities under the Ministry of Religious Affairs’ care have also been targeted, with nine of them razed, the ministry said. Targeted sites included the ministry’s headquarters, the Holy Quran Radio building, the Khan Yunis Endowments Directorate, the Antiquities and Manuscripts Center, the Endowments Sharia School for Boys and the College of Islamic Propagation’s northern branch. Nine of the ministry’s vehicles have also been destroyed.
Over the past year, 238 Religious Affairs Ministry employees have been killed and 19 others detained by Israeli forces, according to the figures.
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The ministry called on the international community and Islamic organizations to intervene to stop what it characterized as an “ongoing war of extermination.” The Gaza conflict has now claimed the lives of over 43,000 people, mostly Palestinian civilians, and maimed nearly 97,000 others – collectively accounting for over 6% of the strip’s prewar population of 2.1-2.3 million people.
An estimated 99% of Gaza’s population is Sunni Muslim, with Christians, Shia, and Ahmadi Muslim communities making up less than 1% of residents. Before the war, Christians were tightly packed into Gaza City, worshiping at the Gaza Baptist Church, the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius, and the Catholic Holy Family Church. All three have been targeted by Israeli aerial bombardments.
The severity of Israel’s operations in Gaza, which have reportedly included the use of AI-assisted "kill-lists" known as Lavender – allowing 15, 20, or 100 or more civilians to be killedto eliminate one suspected Hamas operative – has sparked international outrage and condemnation. Over a dozen countries have signed onto South Africa’s International Court of Justice case against Israel accusing the nation of “genocide” in Gaza. Israeli officials have rejected the allegations.
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The Gaza war will mark its one-year anniversary on Monday. The conflict erupted on October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a surprise commando raid into Israel, ostensibly in response to an array of Israeli policies, including the blockade of Gaza, the occupation of Palestinian territories and the expansion of settlements into Palestinian lands, and threats to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
Israel responded to the October 7 attack with one of the heaviest bombing campaigns in modern history, dropping more bombs on the 365 square km Strip than were used in the World War II bombings of Dresden, Hamburg, and London combined by the spring of this year. Israel complemented the bombings with a ground invasion starting October 27, 2023 with the stated aims of destroying Hamas and freeing hostages – neither of which has been achieved yet. Instead, the conflict has since escalated into nearby Lebanon, Syria, and the Red Sea, and has repeatedly threatened to spiral into an all-out war with Iran amid Israeli assassination attacks and Iranian missile strikes targeting Israeli military and intelligence infrastructure.
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