The United Nations says that at least 58,000 Palestinians have been displaced within the Gaza Strip due to a week of Israeli airstrikes that have mainly targeted civilian buildings.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OHCA) announced Wednesday that many of those now-homeless Palestinians are seeking refuge in United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
It also urged Israeli officials to open Gaza’s crossings and temporarily lift the years-long siege on it to allow humanitarian aid and basic resources into the area.
So far at least 212 Gazans, including at least 63 children and some 40 women, have been killed in Israeli airstrikes over the past week, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
Rocket fire from Palestinian groups has killed at least 12 Israelis, including two children.
Israel insists that it is targeting Hamas militant leaders in the Gaza Strip but there is growing evidence that civilian buildings like homes and hospitals have become a main target.
On Monday, Amnesty International said the Israeli attacks on residential buildings “may amount to war crimes.”
Hamas has also launched thousands of rockets into southern Israel, drawing similar warnings from human rights groups.
Israeli military forces drew international fire this week, after targeting a building that hosted the offices of the Associated Press, Al Jazeera and other media outlets.
Tel Aviv has yet to release evidence that requested by the United States and others to prove its claim that Hamas was using the building for military purposes.
