By Ola Attalah
GAZA
Palestinian resistance faction Hamas said Tuesday that it had provided some $32 million in compensation to families whose homes were destroyed during Israel's recent onslaught on the blockaded Gaza Strip, according to a group statement.
The movement, which has remained in de facto control of the Gaza Strip since 2007, said it had distributed the money as "emergency relief to families victimized by Israel's recent aggression in the Gaza Strip, whose homes have been completely or partially destroyed."
The movement said it had distributed over $19.6 million to Palestinians across the Gaza Strip whose homes had been completely destroyed and over $11.4 million to those whose homes were partially destroyed by Israeli bombardments.
The movement also said it had distributed some $800,000 to the families of Palestinians slain during the bloody offensive, vowing to provide aid packages to other Gazan families victimized by Israel's recent aggression.
Hamas stressed that the aid disbursements were separate from official compensation packages, which afflicted Palestinian families are owed by "various entities."
Israel's recent offensive ended on August 26 with the announcement of an open-ended cease-fire with Palestinian resistance factions in Gaza.
The devastating 51-day military onslaught left some 2,147 Gazans dead and 11,000 injured – the vast majority of them civilians – and thousands of residential structures in ruins.
According to Israeli figures, 67 Israeli soldiers and five civilians were killed over the course of the operation – the highest military death toll suffered by Israel since it lost 119 troops in its 2006 war on Lebanon.
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