UN particular rapporteur on proper to housing says Palestinians returning to destroyed northern Gaza face ‘profound trauma’.
Revealed On 11 Oct 2025
Israel should enable tents and caravans to instantly be delivered to the Gaza Strip, a United Nations knowledgeable says, as displaced Palestinians returning to the north of the bombarded territory have discovered their properties and neighbourhoods destroyed.
Balakrishnan Rajagopal, the UN particular rapporteur on the proper to satisfactory housing, mentioned persons are discovering nothing however rubble in areas from which Israeli forces have withdrawn in northern Gaza.
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“The psychological impacts and trauma are profound, and that’s what we’re seeing proper now as persons are returning to northern Gaza,” he advised Al Jazeera in an interview on Saturday.
Tens of 1000’s of Palestinians have been streaming again into Gaza’s north after Israeli forces pulled again on Friday as a part of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas to halt the two-year battle.
Palestinians throughout the coastal enclave have welcomed the suspension of Israel’s bombardment, which has killed greater than 67,700 folks since October 2023 and plunged Gaza right into a humanitarian disaster.
The UN estimated that 92 p.c of all residential buildings in Gaza have been broken or destroyed because the struggle started, and tons of of 1000’s of displaced Palestinians have been pressured to stay in tents and different makeshift shelters.
Rajagopal famous that tents and caravans have been meant to be delivered to Gaza throughout a ceasefire early this yr however “virtually none” of them was allowed in because of Israel’s strict blockade.
“That’s actually to me the crux of the problem proper now. Even speedy reduction and support to the folks of Gaza just isn’t potential except Israel stops controlling all of the entry factors. That’s important,” the UN knowledgeable advised Al Jazeera.
Rajagopal, who has used the time period “domicide” to explain the decimation of properties throughout the Strip, mentioned the destruction of housing in Gaza has been a central element of Israel’s genocide towards Palestinians.
“The destruction of properties and clearing folks from the realm and making the realm uninhabitable is among the most important methods wherein the act of genocide has been dedicated,” he mentioned, including that the restoration course of will in the end take generations.
“It’s like one other Nakba,” he mentioned, referring to the ethnic cleaning of Palestine when Israel was created in 1948. “What has occurred within the final two years goes to be one thing comparable.”
