Displaced Gazans wake up to new day in U.N.-run shelter as death toll soars

Gazans displaced by Israeli shelling start a new day in a United Nations-run school as death toll soars over 1,700. Rough Cut (No Reporter Narration).

Published

about 3 years ago

Categories

World

Topics

Middle East & North Africa, World, International Relations

People

Benjamin Netanyahu

Places

Israel, Gaza

Transcript

ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION) STORY: Gazans displaced by Israeli shelling woke up on Sunday (August 3) to a new day of hardship as the death toll of more than 3 weeks of conflict rose over 1,700. The United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA) said on Saturday (August 2) it managed 90 shelters for at least 254,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). It recently opened 3 more shelters in Rafah, it also said. Gazans sheltering at a school in Gaza said they were fed up with the overcrowding and the lack of water or food. The leading Palestinian Center for Human Rights revealed shocking statistics about the number of Palestinians who had become displaced because of the current Israeli offensive. It put the number at 520,000 people, including 240,000 sheltering at UNRWA schools, 16,000 in government schools and 264,000 sheltered with family and other public institutions. Elsewhere in town, shelling hit an area next to a building hosting the Chinese news agency Xinhua and the Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu. Shelling exchanges continued on Sunday, pushing the Gaza death toll given by Palestinian officials to 1,708, most of them civilians. Israel has confirmed that 64 soldiers have died in combat, while Palestinian shelling has also killed three civilians in Israel. At least 30 Palestinians in Rafah were killed by Israeli fire on Sunday, including nine from the same family, hospital officials said. On Saturday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to keep up pressure on Hamas even after the army completes its core mission of destroying a tunnel network that extends into Israel.