Drone footage over Gaza City shows damage caused by 2-year war

New drone footage shows what’s left gaza city The ceasefire continues for the second day after two years of war.

Footage taken by The Associated Press on Saturday showed some buildings still standing in the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood. The rest appear to have been destroyed. Piles of debris rise high above the roofs of vehicles. The roads are covered in concrete dust.

The footage also shows some people coming and going out. They walk or drive among the ruins by the thousands Palestinians Make your way to whatever is left of their homes. Gaza City was the center of Israel’s military offensive in the weeks before the ceasefire.

Some returning residents told the AP they were shocked by a new level of destruction.

Farah Saleh said, “We did not expect such a huge devastation.”

“Is this what’s left in Gaza? We are returning with no homes or shelter for our children, and winter is coming,” said Abul Yakhni, another Syrian.

Their clothes and possessions were rare spots of color in the broken landscape.

If the ceasefire holds, the toll of the devastation will be better understood. Already, the United Nations Satellite Center had estimated that by the end of September 83% of all structures in Gaza City had been destroyed or sustained some damage. It said that by July about 78% of structures throughout Gaza had been destroyed or damaged.

The new drone footage helps focus on the scale of the reconstruction. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, approximately 61 million tonnes of debris would need to be cleared across the entire area – the equivalent of 25 Eiffel Towers by volume.

Gaza’s vegetation has also been destroyed to a great extent. UNEP states that 97% of tree crops, 95% of shrubs and 82% of annual crops have been destroyed.

Gaza reconstruction will require more than $50 billion world bank Have guessed. The region’s more than 2 million Palestinians now hope to begin arriving one blanket or beam at a time.

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Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war