NEW YORK: The Israeli military has destroyed hundreds of mosques during its year-long genocidal war against the besieged Gaza, according to the enclave’s Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs.
The ministry announced in a statement on Saturday that the deadly Israeli airstrikes have destroyed 814 mosques, while another 148 have been severely damaged.
It came on the eve the one-year mark of the Israeli war in Gaza, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reiterating his passionate appeal for peace across the occupied Palestinian territories.
“The 7th of October is naturally a day to focus on the events of that awful day. I express my solidarity with all the victims and their loved ones,” Guterres said in a video message.
The uN chief also voiced concern over the conflict spreading to Lebanon, where Israel in recent days has pounded the Hezbollah group, killing over a thousand people and forcing more than a million to flee their homes.
“The war that has followed the terrible attacks of one year ago continues to shatter lives and inflict profound human suffering for Palestinians in Gaza, and now the people of Lebanon,” Guterres said.
In it’s statement, the Gaza ministry went on to say that the Israeli military has also destroyed three churches as well as 19 cemeteries in addition to mosques, adding that the estimated financial cost of the damage to the ministry’s properties is $350 million.
The ministry further said Israeli troops have desecrated graves, adding that they have exhumed bodies, and committed brutal acts of violence against those who died, such as stealing their remains and mutilating them.
A total of 610 mosques have been completely destroyed in the Israeli genocidal war on the Gaza Strip in the past 320 days and the attacks continue unabated.
It also noted that 11 administrative and educational facilities under the ministry’s authority were destroyed, accounting for 79% of such structures in Gaza.
The ministry added that Israeli forces killed 238 of its employees and detained 19 others during the ground invasion of Gaza, calling on the international community to intervene immediately to halt the “ongoing war of extermination.”
Israel launched its brutal war against the Gaza Strip after the Palestinian fighters launched a surprise attack, dubbed Operation al-Aqsa Storm, against the occupation regime on October 7 last year.
At least 41,825 Palestinians have been killed, most of them women and children. More than 1.7 million people have been internally displaced during the war as well.
The Israeli regime has not even spared places of worship in the coastal territory, indiscriminately and aimlessly bombing them.
