Middle East Monitor / September 28, 2021
In cooperation with the UNDP, the Palestinian Ministry of Works has started work to demolish Al-Jawhara Tower which was repeatedly bombed by Israeli occupation forces during the latest offensive on Gaza in May, Anadolu reported yesterday.
Al-Jawhara is a nine-story building located in the centre of Gaza City, which housed businesses and local and international media agencies.
Israeli warplanes bombed it several times but it remained standing until the end of the Israeli offensive which lasted between 11-21 May.
Engineers have, however, concluded that it must now be demolished.
The Palestinian Ministry of Works said that the demolition and removal of rubble would last three months.
“The Israeli military’s airstrikes that destroyed four high-rise buildings in Gaza City during the May 2021 fighting apparently violated the laws of war and may amount to war crimes,” Human Rights Watch said in a report issued following the Israeli offensive on Gaza.
“The attacks also damaged neighboring structures, made several dozen families homeless, and shuttered scores of businesses that provided livelihoods to many people,” the report added.
Gaza has been under a strict Israeli siege since 2007. “The Israeli closure, along with Egyptian border restrictions, has devastated Gaza’s economy,” HRW said, adding: “Eighty percent of Gaza’s people rely on humanitarian aid and more than half live below the poverty line.”
