NGO says office ‘destroyed’ in Gaza

A Paris-based non-governmental organisation on Friday said its Gaza office had been destroyed, expressing concern about the targeting of "civilian buildings" in the besieged Palestinian territory. (AFP)

• Humanity & Inclusion (HI) said: “The building is completely destroyed”
• “We are deeply concerned about the pattern of the past months of destroying civilian buildings where NGOs have their offices,” said HI’s director for the Middle East

PARIS: A Paris-based non-governmental organization on Friday said its Gaza office had been destroyed, expressing concern about the targeting of “civilian buildings” in the besieged Palestinian territory.
Humanity & Inclusion (HI) said no staff were present during the strike on Wednesday in Gaza City as they had evacuated earlier in the war, but its base in the north of the coastal strip was gone.
“The building is completely destroyed,” it said.
“No alert or warning was given to HI, even though the coordinates of the building were duly communicated to the notification system put in place by the United Nations and Israeli forces to avoid the inadvertent targeting of humanitarian premises,” it added.
“We are deeply concerned about the pattern of the past months of destroying civilian buildings where NGOs have their offices, schools or civilian’s houses,” said Federico Dessi, HI director for the Middle East.
“It’s again the demonstration that nowhere in Gaza is safe. This must stop, and an immediate, long-lasting ceasefire is the only solution.”
Nearly four months of Israeli bombardment and fighting has reduced large parts of the Gaza Strip to rubble.
The war has damaged around half of all buildings in the Gaza Strip and rendered the Palestinian territory uninhabitable, the United Nations says, while an Israeli siege has resulted in dire shortages of food, water, fuel and medicines.
Palestinian militant group Hamas on October 7 attacked Israel, which resulted in the deaths of around 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Militants also seized about 250 hostages, and Israel says 132 remain in Gaza, including at least 27 believed to have been killed.
After the attack, Israel launched a withering air and ground offensive that has killed at least 27,131 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.