Gaza, October 08 (QNA) - Director of the Government Media Office in the Gaza Strip Dr. Ismail Al Thawabta revealed the catastrophic toll of the ongoing Israeli occupation aggression against the Palestinian people in Gaza over the past three years, confirming that preliminary direct losses across 15 vital sectors have exceeded $80 billion.

In remarks to Qatar News Agency (QNA), Al Thawabta said that, as the Israeli occupation's aggression against Gaza enters its fourth year, the Strip is undergoing near-total destruction, with more than 90 percent of its infrastructure affected. He noted that the occupation has dropped more than 230,000 tons of explosives on the besieged area, home to over 2.4 million people.

He added that the occupation has imposed military control—through firepower and forced displacement—over more than 80 percent of the Strip's territory, pointing out that the occupation deliberately misled civilians by bombing areas it had designated as "humanitarian and safe," including Al-Mawasi in the southern Strip, which was struck more than 287 times, turning displacement zones into daily death traps.

Addressing the horrific human cost of the ongoing aggression, the Director of the Government Media Office said the recorded death toll among those brought to hospitals stands at 74,254, in addition to approximately 9,500 people missing beneath the rubble or whose whereabouts remain unknown. He stressed that women, children, and the elderly account for more than 55 percent of the total casualties.

Al Thawabta said the Israeli crimes have disproportionately affected the most vulnerable groups: 21,976 children were killed, including 1,125 infants who had not reached their first birthday, while official records documented 612 infants who were born and later died during periods of bombardment. More than 12,500 women were also killed, including 9,000 mothers, alongside 22,500 fathers.

Turning to crimes targeting Gaza's social fabric, Al Thawabta said 39,022 families had been subjected to direct massacres. Of these, 2,700 families were completely wiped out and erased from the civil registry, accounting for 8,574 martyrs, while 6,020 families were left with only one survivor, with 12,917 members killed.

In statements to QNA, Al Thawabta said the occupation is pursuing a systematic strategy of assassinating field personnel to disrupt relief services and suppress the truth. The occupation has killed 1,723 medical personnel, 262 journalists and media workers, 149 Civil Defense personnel, and 194 municipal employees, including four mayors. It has also killed more than 2,800 police and aid-security personnel, as well as 556 relief workers and community volunteers.

Addressing the state of the healthcare system, Al Thawabta said the sector has almost completely ceased operating, with losses totaling $6 billion. Only 19 of 38 hospitals are currently functioning, all at severely limited capacity, while healthcare services have completely collapsed—reaching zero percent functionality—in the Northern and Rafah governorates. He added that the occupation has destroyed 96 health centers and 197 ambulances and rendered 80 percent of medical transport vehicles inoperable because of shortages of fuel and spare parts.

He stressed that the closure of border crossings has caused the deaths of 2,027 patients while they awaited medical evacuation. More than 21,000 patients—including 5,803 children and 4,800 cancer patients—now face certain death unless they are urgently allowed to travel for treatment.

On the use of starvation as a weapon, Al Thawabta said the occupation has blocked the entry of more than 500,000 aid and fuel trucks and targeted 48 soup kitchens and 64 food distribution centers. He added that aid distribution points have been turned into "death traps," where 2,605 citizens have been killed and more than 19,000 injured while attempting to obtain food.

He said 460 deaths have been recorded due to hunger and malnutrition, including those of 164 children, and warned that 650,000 children and 40,000 infants under one year of age face an immediate risk of starvation.

Summarizing the material and infrastructure losses caused by three years of war, the Director of the Government Media Office in the Gaza Strip said the housing sector had sustained $34 billion in losses, adding that 410,000 housing units and buildings had been either completely destroyed or rendered uninhabitable, while 510,000 units had been damaged in total. As a result, 350,000 families remain homeless and dependent on 162,000 dilapidated tents.

In the education sector, he reported losses of $4 billion, citing the destruction of 17 higher education institutions and damage to 97 percent of schools. The devastation has deprived 650,000 school students and 90,000 university students of education and resulted in the deaths of 22,000 students, 1,100 teachers, and 194 academics and researchers.

Regarding the agricultural and livestock sectors, Al Thawabta put losses at an estimated $4 billion, citing the bulldozing of 87 percent of agricultural land and greenhouses, the destruction of 8,700 agricultural wells, and a collapse in annual fruit and vegetable production from 524,000 tons to just 20,000 tons.

In the service and economic sectors, the war caused losses of $6 billion in the municipal sector, $5 billion in the commercial sector, $5 billion in household contents, $4 billion in the industrial sector, $3 billion in telecommunications, $3 billion in transportation, $2 billion in the electricity sector—including the destruction of 5,080 km of networks—$2 billion in hospitality and leisure, $1 billion in the religious sector—including the complete destruction of 1,076 mosques and the bulldozing of 40 cemeteries—and $1 billion in the media sector.

Concluding his remarks to QNA, the Director of the Government Media Office in Gaza issued an urgent appeal to the international community, the Arab League, and the United Nations, calling for immediate and effective action to halt what he described as a war of genocide, open border crossings unconditionally to allow the entry of aid, medical supplies, and fuel, and facilitate the travel of thousands of wounded and sick people in an effort to salvage what remains of the Gaza Strip. (QNA)