UN reports more than 1,300 buildings destroyed in Gaza

The United Nations has said more than 1,300 buildings in Gaza have been destroyed, after nearly a week of Israeli bombardment.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) announced that 5,544 housing units in these buildings were destroyed, while about 3,750 other units were severely damaged to the point that they were no longer habitable.

The OCHA said, according to the Ministry of Public Works in Gaza, that 1,324 residential and non-residential buildings, including 5,540 housing units, were destroyed and another 3,743 housing units were damaged beyond repair and rendered uninhabitable.

It added that another 55,000 housing units were partially damaged.

The UN is monitoring the number of people displaced from their homes inside the Gaza Strip, where more than 423,000 displaced people were registered as of the end of Thursday.

On Friday, Israel gave about 1.1 million people in the northern Gaza Strip 24 hours to evacuate the area and head to the south, before an expected ground attack. 

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that, as of 6:00 GMT on Friday evening, it is estimated that tens of thousands have fled, although the exact extent is currently unknown.