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Google Earth has updated its images to show the devastating scale of destruction across Gaza with swathes of the strip reduced to rubble.
asserted
swathes → log → rubble
Israeli’s military action in Gaza has led to the damage and destruction of the majority of housing, hospitals, schools, and buildings across the 141 square mile territory, which is widely considered one of the most densely populated areas in the world.
asserted
which → lead → world
Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has not allowed foreign journalists, independent investigators or several human rights groups into the strip.
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government → allow → strip
The Independent’s Bel Trew flew over the war-torn region last year and noted the “torched ruins of once-bustling cities” leaving Gaza in “ash and ruin”.
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Trew → fly → ash
“It is as if giants have torn through anything that once lived here: monstrous teeth have ripped chunks out of the few buildings that still teeter above ground.
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that → tear → ground
Everything else appears stamped underfoot,” she said.
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she → stamp → ?
Barry Andrews, Member of the European Parliament for the Dublin constituency wrote: “The updated Google satellite images of Gaza are quite incredible, for all to see...”
It is unclear when the update was made.
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update → write → Gaza
The Independent has contacted Google for comment.
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Independent → contact → comment
Earlier this month, the UN called for international investigators to be granted access to all areas of Gaza to help collect evidence and document alleged violations as human remains continued to be uncovered from underneath the rubble.
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remains → call → rubble
Satellite images had previously documented the scale of the devastation but the new images show the most updated record of the damage inflicted across the region.
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images → document → region
A United Nations report released last week concluded that Gaza is facing the worst economic crisis in history.
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Gaza → release → history
It said that 90 per cent of working-age Palestinians are unemployed and that Annual GDP per capita had plummeted to $212 ($0.58 per day).
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GDP → say → day
Earlier this year, the Red Cross told The Independent that there is only one fully functioning digger to help clear the rubble across the whole territory.
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Cross → tell → territory
Thousands are expected to be buried underneath.
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Thousands → expect → ?
Gaza’s forensic evidence team told The Independent earlier this year that a lack of DNA testing has left hundreds of bodies unidentified, with at least 1,129 recovered from underneath the rubble but left unnamed.
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1,129 → tell → rubble
Experts say that clearing the rubble could take decades but could be done in seven years if the correct resources were deployed.
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resources → say → years
The World Health Organisation estimates 90 per cent of hospitals have been damaged or destroyed.
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cent → estimate → hospitals
Around 82 per cent of all structures and more than 90 per cent of housing units have been damaged or destroyed, according to the United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT).
uncertain
cent → damage → Centre
Meanwhile, almost all of the population remains homeless with some surviving in the remains of collapsed buildings.
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some → remain → buildings
At least 21 people were killed earlier this month when a building caved in on Palestinian families sheltering there.
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building → kill → families
Eight children were also killed in the collapse.
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children → kill → collapse
A CBC News investigation found satellite imagery appearing to show Israel compacting and removing rubble and debris from Gaza, that could contain human remains and potential evidence of war crimes across several sites.
uncertain
that → find → sites
A UN expert warned that Israel’s rubble-clearing could erase traces of the atrocity of crimes.
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clearing → warn → crimes
In an investigation earlier this year, the Geneva-based Euro-Med Monitor told The Independent that the remains of three brothers, killed in a suspected Israeli sniper attack as they crawled towards a hospital, had been cleared by Israeli bulldozers.
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they → base → bulldozers
“The ongoing removal, crushing and relocation of rubble in Gaza must not destroy evidence of international crimes or prevent the recovery and identification of human remains in the besieged enclave,” said Francesca Albanese, special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
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Albanese → destroy → Territories
Gaza’s rubble contains human remains and physical evidence relevant to the investigation of alleged international crimes, including genocide.”
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rubble → contain → genocide
Israel denies it is committing war crimes and has labelled accusations of genocide “antisemitic”.
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it → deny → genocide
The Aporia
