GAZA CITY (Dispatches) – 
Local authorities on Monday declared three towns in the Gaza Strip “disaster areas” following the Zionist regime’s destructive war on the enclave.
“The towns of Al-Zahraa, Al-Mughraqa, and Wadi Gaza are uninhabitable and need urgent relief in all areas,” Nidal Nassar, the mayor of al-Zahraa, told a press conference.
Nassar said the Israeli bombardment has imposed “a new reality in the region that requires immediate solutions and long-term strategies,” given the extensive destruction.
During the war, the Israeli army “destroyed all buildings and residential homes in the three towns, leading to the demolition of approximately 13,200 housing units,” he added.
Tens of thousands of Palestinian residents have been left homeless by the Israeli assault, which also destroyed “water wells and reservoirs, sewage networks, and the entire infrastructure,” Nassar said.
According to a statement issued by local authorities in the three towns, Israeli military vehicles razed 24 water wells in the area over the past months, along with reservoirs that held more than 1,300 cubic meters of water, causing severe water shortages and forcing residents to flee.
The army also “destroyed thousands of dunams of agricultural land, wiped out livestock, and devastated farms in the area,” which were among the primary sources of agricultural and animal products for the local market, Nassar said.
The official also accused the Zionist regime of completely destroying sewage networks in the area and three wastewater pumping stations, leading to the spread of infectious diseases and epidemics.
Nassar said the regime has deliberately disrupted healthcare services in the area by bombing and destroying all hospitals, medical centers, and numerous public, governmental, and private buildings.
He estimated that the total losses in the three towns amounted to approximately $1 billion across all sectors. 
The spokeswoman for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Tess Ingram warned that Palestinian children were coming back to North Gaza following a ceasefire without the basics that they need to survive.
Ingram said families in the North of Gaza have been “shocked” at the scale of destruction in the area.
“This is particularly traumatic for children, who have endured so much already,” Ingram said in a video posted on X.
“They are now coming back to communities without water and without healthcare, without the basics that they need to survive,” she added.
About 700,000 Northern Gaza residents fled to southern areas at the start of the war in October 2023, when the Israeli military issued mass evacuation orders.
The Israeli military’s recent genocide and ethnic cleansing have left 80% of northern Gaza in ruins, according to the Palestinian officials.
The military campaign has turned much of the enclave of 2.3 million people into ruins, leaving most civilians homeless and at risk of famine.