GAZA CITY, Palestine

The Israeli army has destroyed 70% of water wells in the northern Gaza Strip amid its ongoing onslaught against the enclave.

Beit Lahia Mayor Alaa Al-Attar told Anadolu that the army also destroyed 50% of sewage pumps in northern Gaza.

"The Israeli army destroyed all agricultural crops in the town (Beit Lahia) which is considered the primary food basket for the Strip," said Al-Attar.

He noted that marketplaces were destroyed by the army in addition to more than 80 kilometers (50 miles) of water and sewage pipelines in the town.

Israel has waged a brutal offensive on Gaza since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group, Hamas, on Oct. 7 which killed less than 1,200 people.

More than 34,000 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, while vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, and 85% of the enclave’s population has been forced into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar