Xi'an's Og

As a late-far-too-late cease-fire between the Israeli government and Hamas could come to happen, The Guardian reminds us of the horrendous consequences of the Gaza war in some numbers (that profoundly fail to express the degree of inhumanity of the unrestrained strategies of both warring sides and the annihilation of any resemblance to normal life on the Gaza strip):

• Palestinians killed in Gaza: 46,707 (which very likely is a very conservative estimate)
  

• Children confirmed killed in Gaza: 13,319

• Palestinians reported buried under rubble in Gaza: 11,000

• People killed inside Israel on 7 October 2023: about 1,200

• People abducted to Gaza from Israel on 7 October 2023: 251

• Hostages still in Gaza in January 2025: 101 (37 believed dead)

• Palestinians injured in Gaza: 110,265

• Palestinians displaced in Gaza: 1.9 million (90% of the population)

• Attacks on healthcare facilities during the war: 654

• Health workers killed: 1,060

• Schools damaged or destroyed: 534 (95% of schools)

• Children out of formal education: 660,000 (all school-age children)

• Homes damaged or destroyed: 436,000 (92% of total)

• 31 of 54 water reservoirs in Gaza damaged or polluted, with all wastewater treatment plants destroyed and 70% of sewage pumps out of order

• as of last March, 50% of the tree crops, 38% of the farmland,  and 23% of the greenhouses had been destroyed

These awful figures are only the tip of the iceberg, as the cease-fire does not elaborate on “the day after” issues and a far-away return to more human conditions of living. Reconstruction and cleaning will take eons and massive support from external sources, which may prove harder than before to find, as new structures could get again obliterated under Israeli bombs. These grim prospects thus made the prospective truce far from a reason for hope…