In Occupied Palestine
Zionism in practice
Israel’s Daily Toll on Palestinian Life, Limb, Liberty and Land
08:00, on 19 December until 08:00, 20 December 2023
[Source of statistics: Palestinian Monitoring Group]
Restrictions of movement: Palestinians in the Occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza are under relentless and extreme control over all travel and movement.
Gaza Strip
Armed Palestinian Resistance: Palestinian Resistance continued launching dozens of missiles towards the Green Line.
Air strikes: Heavy aerial bombardment on buildings, homes and many facilities.
Victims: More people killed in Gaza, raising the total to over 19,667. Precise statistics are still not available, due to the violence surrounding hospitals in the Gaza Strip.
Attacks: All over Gaza, there are air strikes, heavy gunfire, tank and artillery shelling, as well as missiles fired from Israeli forces and military occupation, especially in Khan Yunis. The Israeli Navycontinues to fire missiles, targeting facilities and buildings along the shoreline of the whole of Gaza.
On 20 December, at about 9:30, the main telecommunication provider in Gaza announced that all telecommunications services had shut down, due to cuts in the main fibre routes in Khan Yunis. This followed the longest shutdown across the Strip between 14 and 18 December, and a partial resumption at about 10% capacity in southern Gaza. Humanitarian agencies and first-responders have warned that telecommunications blackouts jeopardise the already constrained provision of life-saving assistance. As a result, this Flash Update provides limited updated information about the humanitarian situation in Gaza over the past 24 hours.
On 20 December, heavy Israeli bombardments from air, land and sea continued across Gaza, with the most intense shelling reported in Beit Lahiya and many areas in Gaza City (north), eastern Khan Yunis and the eastern and western areas of Rafah City (south). Intense ground operations and fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups continued in Northern Gaza, Gaza City, the Middle Area, and Khan Yunis, in southern Gaza. The firing of rockets by Palestinian armed groups into Israel also continued.
On 19 December, at about 17:37, a five-storey building was reportedly struck in the Ar Remal neighbourhood of Gaza City, resulting in damage to it. Reportedly, more than 100 people were killed and another 16 people injured. An additional 50 people are reported missing, under the rubble.
On 20 December, the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza did not update its casualty figures. The latest reported figures, as of 19 December afternoon, stood at 19,667 Palestinians who have been killed in Gaza. About 70% of those killed are said to be women and children. As of then, about 52,586 people have been injured, according to the MoH. Many other people are missing, presumably buried under rubble, waiting for rescue or recovery.
Between 19 and 20 December, two Israeli soldiers were reported killed in Gaza. Since the start of the ground operations, 134 soldiers have been killed there, and 740 soldiers have been injured, according to the Israeli military.
On 20 December, the UN Human Rights Office issued a statement on reports of an incident on 19 December between 20:00 and 23:00, whereby Israeli forces reportedly shot and killed at least eleven Palestinian men, and allegedly injured an unconfirmed number of women and children in the Al Awda residential building, also known as the “Annan building,” in the Ar Remal neighbourhood of Gaza City. Three related families were sheltering inside this building during the incidents. Initial witness reports circulating through the media allege that the men were separated from women and children and then shot and killed, in what may amount to a war crime. The details of this incident are yet to be verified.
On 20 December, the Israeli military designated a new area, covering about 20% of central and south of Khan Yunis city, for immediate evacuation. The area was marked in an online map published on social media. Prior to the onset of hostilities, this was home to nearly 111,542 people. It also includes 32 shelters that accommodated about 141,451 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), the vast majority of whom were previously displaced from the north. Instructions, accompanying the map, call for residents to move immediately to shelters further south of Khan Yunis, specifically in the Ash Shaboura, Tel as Sultan and Az Zahur neighbourhoods in the Rafah governorate, which are already overcrowded. The scope of displacement resulting from the order to evacuate is unclear.
Hostilities and casualties (Gaza Strip)
The following are among the deadliest incidents reported on 19 and 20 December:
On 19 December, at about 19:20, 13 Palestinians were reportedly killed, and more than 34 Palestinians injured, including women and children, when a residential building on Al-Beshara Street in Deir Al-Balah, Middle Gaza, was struck.
On 19 December, at about 19:30, 15 Palestinians were reportedly killed, and several others injured, when a house in Block “G”, in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza, was struck.
On 20 December, in the early morning, Israeli forces reportedly destroyed 56 buildings in the suburb of Ash Shuja’iyeh, eastern Gaza City. Casualty numbers are unavailable, as of the time of reporting.
On 19 December, at about 16:50, an Israeli military drone (quadcopter) reportedly opened fire inside Al Hanawi School, western Khan Yunis, southern Gaza, injuring four IDPs. It is not clear how many were sheltering at the school at the time of the attack. This is the second such incident of casualties from drone-strikes on schools in western Khan Yunis, following the killing of a girl on 14 December.
According to UNRWA, as of 18 December, 55 of its installations have been directly hit, and 62 others sustained collateral damage, resulting in the killing of at least 299 IDPs who were sheltering in UNRWA shelters and the injury of at least 1,037 IDPs since the beginning of hostilities.
Displacement (Gaza Strip)
Areas encompassing about 30% of the Gaza Strip (excluding the orders to evacuate the areas north of Wadi Gaza) have been marked for evacuation on the Israeli military’s online map. Access to this information is impaired by recurrent interruptions in telecommunications and lack of electricity.
Inflow of IDPs to the Rafah governorate continued on 20 December. As shelters in Rafah City have exceeded their capacity significantly, most newly-arriving IDPs have settled in the streets and in empty spaces across the city. Rafah governorate has become the most densely populated area in the Gaza Strip, with hundreds of thousands of IDPs squeezed into extremely overcrowded spaces and in dire living conditions. Population density is assessed to now exceed 12,000 people per square kilometre, a fourfold increase prior to the escalation. Thousands of people line up at aid distribution centres, in need of food, water, shelter and protection, amid the absence of toilets and adequate water and sanitation facilities in informal displacement sites and makeshift shelters. This situation is compounded by the cold winter as well as rain over the last week, which has flooded tents and other makeshift shelters.
Obtaining an accurate figure of the total number of IDPs remains challenging. According to UNRWA, almost 1.9 million people in Gaza, or nearly 85% of the population, are estimated to be internally displaced, including those who have been displaced many times.
Nearly 1.4 million of these IDPs are registered in 155 UNRWA facilities across Gaza, including more than 1.2 million in 98 UNRWA shelters in the Middle Area, Khan Yunis and Rafah governorates. The average number of IDPs in UNRWA shelters south of Wadi Gaza is about 12,400 people, more than four times its capacity.
Lack of food, basic survival items and poor hygiene, exacerbate the already dire living conditions, amplify protection and mental health issues, and increase the spread of disease. More than 360,000 cases of infectious diseases, including acute respiratory infections, meningitis, jaundice, impetigo and chickenpox, have been recorded in UNRWA shelters.
On 20 December, according to Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), Israeli forces besieged its ambulance centre in Jabalya, north of Gaza. Some 127 people, including 22 injured patients being treated by staff, are inside the building. Contact was lost with the operations room and PRCS team in Gaza, due to the telecommunications blackout.
According to WHO, as of 19 December, nine out of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are partly functional, all located in the south. They are operating at three times their capacity, while facing critical shortages of basic supplies and fuel. According to the MoH in Gaza, occupancy rates are now reaching 206% in Inpatient Departments and 250% in Intensive Care Units.
West Bank
Israeli Army attack – woman and youngster wounded: Ramallah – 12:10-17:40, Israeli Occupation forces, firing live ammunition, stormed into Deir Nizam village, wounding a woman and a youngster: Tahani Fadl Abdul Hamid Al-Tamimi and Muhammad Yahya Al-Tamimi (aged 17).
Israeli Army attack – 2 wounded: Jenin – 02:55–06:45, Israeli forces stormed into al-Yamoun, wounding two residents: Badr Suleiman Muhammad Zayed and Karn Waseem Samar.
Israeli Army attack – 3 wounded: Qalqiliya – 10:30-12:15, the Israeli Army stormed into Azzun, wounding three people.
Israeli Army attack – 3 wounded: Nablus – 20:50–01:10, Israeli troops invaded Asira al-Shimaliya, wounding three people: Khaled Jamal Hamouda, Islam Mahmoud Hassan Al-Shuli and Abdul Majeed Sawalha.
Israeli Army attack – in refugee camp: Nablus – 03:15, Israeli troops, firing live ammunition, stormed into the Balata refugee camp.
Death: Jenin – 17:05, a Jenin resident, Rehab Mustafa Khalouf Abu Alia, has died from wounds she received during the storming of Jenin and the refugee camp on 12 December.
Home invasions and injuries – 3 taken prisoner: Jerusalem – dawn, Occupation forces stormed Qatana, beating up and inflicting head injuries on a woman, Dareen Misbah Mahmoud Tabanga,and taking prisoner three residents while invading village homes.
Home invasions – 3 taken prisoner: Ramallah – 10:15, Israeli forces raided Rantis village and invaded a number of homes.
Home invasions: Nablus – 01:30, the Israeli Army invaded the village of al-Laban al-Sharqiya and searched a number of homes.
Home invasions: Salfit – 23:05–00:20, Israeli troops raided Kafr al-Dik and searched house- by-house.
Home invasion: Hebron – dawn, the Israeli military invaded the city and searched a house.
Home invasion and injuries – 1 taken prisoner: Hebron – dawn, Israeli soldiers raided Hebron and searched a house, taking prisoner one resident.
Israeli Army armed robbery – agricultural sabotage: Nablus – Israeli forces seized a tractor being used by a farmer, Shinar Mahmoud Zaki Amer, to plough his land in the Khirbet Sarra area of Qaryut village.
Israeli Army land–grabs for settlement development: Bethlehem – Israeli Occupation forces issued two orders, 5/26/T and 52/23/M. D, seizing six areas of Tuqu village land, for construction of a road linking linking the Occupation settlement of Izdbar, Izdibar and Nokdim.
Occupation settler land-grabs – agricultural sabotage: Ramallah – Israeli Occupation settlers, in the Jabal Al-Risan area near the village of Ras Karkar, began building a new settlement road on Palestinian farmland, already threatened with seizure, in between the villages of Ras Karkar, Kharbatha Bani Harith, and Kafr Ni’ma.
Occupation settler land-grab – agricultural sabotage: Hebron – Israeli Occupation settlers in the al-Kharouba area, east of Yatta, seized and began ploughing local farmland.
Raid – settler and Israeli Army mosque violation: Jerusalem – 08:00, settler militants, escorted by Israeli police, invaded the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and molested worshippers.
Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Jerusalem – 21:30, Israeli Occupation forces raided Kafr Aqab, taking prisoner one person.
Raid – 3 taken prisoner: Ramallah – 01:40, Israeli forces raided Silwad, taking prisoner three people.
Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Ramallah – 03:50, the Israeli Army raided Ni’lin and took prisoner one woman.
Raid – 2 taken prisoner: Ramallah – 04:30, Israeli troops raided the village of al-Mugheir, taking prisoner two people.
Raid: Jenin – 13:50-16:10, the Israeli military raided and patrolled the village of Jalboun.
Raid: Jenin – 20:15-22:05, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled the village of al-Jalameh.
Raid: Jenin – 21:15–22:25, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled Araba.
Raid: Jenin – 21:15, Israeli forces raided and patrolled Ya’bad.
Raid: Jenin – 21:50, the Israeli Army raided and patrolled the village of Faqua.
Raid – rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades fired – 2 youngsters abducted: Tubas – 02:45–06:45, Israeli troops, firing rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades, raided Tamoun, wounding a 16-year-old youth, Izz al-Din Zahir Bani Odeh, and taking prisoner two other people.
Raid: Tubas – dawn, the Israeli military raided and patrolled Tubas.
Raid – rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades – 2 taken prisoner: Tulkarem – 05:15–07:45, Israeli soldiers, firing rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades, raided Bal’a, taking prisonertwo people.
Raid: Qalqiliya – 21:00, Israeli Occupation forces raided the village of Immatin and searched a poultry-slaughter facility.
Raid: Qalqiliya – 22:50, Israeli forces raided and patrolled Jayus.
Raid – rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades: Nablus – 01:45––04:05, the Israeli Army, firing rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades, stormed of the village of Qaryut.
Raid on refugee camp: Nablus – 03:15–06:10, Israeli troops raided the Balata refugee camp.
Raid – rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades: Salfit – evening, the Israeli military, firing rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades, stormed and patrolled Kifl Haris.
Raid: Bethlehem – 08:55, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled Nahalin.
Raid: Bethlehem – 01:25–03:05, Israeli Occupation forces raided Beit Jallah.
Raid – 2 youngsters abducted: Bethlehem – dawn, Israeli soldiers raiding Nahalin, abducted two youngsters, Musab Ahmed Shakarneh (aged 16) and Muhammad Salim Al-Nis, age 17.
Raid– 2 people beaten: Hebron – 09:30, Israeli Occupation forces, raiding the village of Carmel, beat up two residents, Muhammad Al-Najjar and Basil Ibrahim Al-Dababassa.
Raid – 1 taken prisoner in refugee camp: Hebron – 09:05, Israeli forces invaded the al-Fawar refugee camp, taking prisoner one person.
Raid – 2 taken prisoner: Hebron – 23:35, the Israeli Army raided Surif, taking prisoner two people.
Raid – population–control – 1 taken prisoner: Hebron – 03:40, Israeli troops raided Beit Ummar an issued orders to stop the construction of three houses. One person was taken prisoner.
Raid – 2 youngsters abducted: Hebron – 05:00, the Israeli military raided Sa’ir and abducted two 17-year-old youths: Abu Bagis Al-Mutawar and Sami Issa Jaradat.
YAWN!