Over 52,000 Palestinians displaced due to Israeli attacks on Gaza: UN

More than 52,000 Palestinians have been displaced by Israeli air strikes that have destroyed or badly damaged nearly 450 buildings in the Gaza Strip, the U.N. aid agency said on May 18.

About 47,000 of the displaced people have sought shelter in 58 U.N.-run schools in Gaza, Jens Laerke, spokesman of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told reporters.

Laerke said 132 buildings had been destroyed and 316 had been severely damaged, including six hospitals and nine primary healthcare centers.

The U.N. agency said it welcomed the fact that Israel had opened one border crossing for humanitarian supplies but called for another crossing to also be opened.

The death toll from the ongoing Israeli attacks on the besieged Gaza Strip has risen to 212, the Palestinian Health Ministry said on May 17.

The grim figure includes 61 children, 35 women and 16 elderly people, the ministry said in a statement, while 1,400 people have been injured during the offensive.

The Israeli military has staged airstrikes across the Gaza Strip since May 10, leaving behind a massive trail of destruction across the seaside territory.

Ten Israelis have also been killed in Palestinian rocket fire from the Gaza Strip into Israel.

Israeli attacks on the besieged Gaza on May 18 damaged the Health Ministry building, Palestinian officials said.

Al-Rimal Health Center and the administrative building of the ministry, which are located near the region were targeted by Israel. They have been severely damaged, said the Gaza Health Ministry.

The statement said that some officers in the ministry building in the Rimal neighborhood were also injured.

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