In its six-week bloody assault on the men, women and children of Gaza, Israel has wilfully and purposely set out to cause maximum destruction to the economic and social fabric of the open-air prison. According to details coming to light from the United Nations, the full extent of Israel’s unbridled aggression is now apparent — and the people of Gaza will be paying a painful and bitter price for years to come.

Make no mistake: Israel may tell the West that it intended to take out tunnels used to hide rockets. That is a lie. What Israel has done is to use the full power of its military machine to destroy the economic and social infrastructure of the entire Gaza Strip.

As a result of Israel’s bloody and immoral campaign, 13 water-producing desalination plants will need to be rebuilt. And as a result of more than 400 factories being targeted by Israeli air strikes and artillery, more than 50 per cent of Gaza’s men and women will be jobless.

As a result of Israel’s aggression, it will take at least 18 years of rebuilding to bring Gaza back to the level it was six weeks ago. And the UN also says that the destruction wrought this time by Tel Aviv is worse than the combined effects of the two previous assaults on Gaza over the past five years.

There are more than 1.8 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip who will have to rely on international aid in one form or another as a result of the aggression by Israel. And some 900,000 Palestinians under the age of 18 will have to rely on aid.

The six weeks of murderous shelling and barbaric air strikes mean that 350,000 Palestinians are directly displaced by the campaign. This is a UN-verified statistic that completely tears Israel’s lies — of a short and surgical strike on the tunnels — to shreds.

But the most telling statistic of all: Every Palestinian child under the age of 7 has lived through three Israeli wars. How many more must they endure before justice and freedom are won?