Destruction of Land and Property[1]

To read the relevant Articles in international humanitarian law applying to destruction and expropriation of private houses and land click on the blue words. Read the definition of civilian objects here.   

• More than 2702 houses in the Gaza strip has been completely demolished by the Israeli occupying forces since the outbreak of the intifada, rendering thousands of Palestinian civilians homeless. 

• 2186 houses have been damaged and/or rendered completely uninhabitable by indiscriminate shelling, shooting, and bombardment by Israeli forces using heavy machine guns, tanks, helicopter gunships, and F-16 fighter planes.

• Approximately 31.503 dunums/31.5 million square meters of land in the Gaza strip, most of it agricultural, has been razed by the Israelis. This represents at least 10% of the total arable land base of the Gaza strip, much of which has been seized for use by Israeli settlers.

• Approximately 656 businesses, factories, or schools have been destroyed or damaged in the Gaza strip.

[Last updated 31 January 2005]