In Occupied Palestine

Zionism in practice

Israel’s Daily Toll on Palestinian Life, Limb, Liberty and Land

08:00, on 21 January until 08:00, 22 January 2024

[Source of statistics: Palestinian Monitoring Group]

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.

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.

Victims: 190 people killed in Gaza brings the total number of deaths since 7 October to at least 25,295. With another 340 wounded, that figure has risen to 63,021. Fully accurate statistics are not available, due to insecurity menacing hospitals in the Gaza Strip.

OCHA Flash Update #99

On 22 January, ground operations, fighting and attacks intensified in the Khan Yunis area, destroying several residential houses, buildings, towers and residential squares, reportedly killing at least 45 Palestinians, including IDPs, women and children.

On 22 January, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) reported that Israeli forces had surrounded their ambulance headquarters in Khan Yunis; restricting ambulances from providing support in the area. Reportedly, Israeli forces struck the vicinity of Al Amal Hospital and the ambulance headquarters, as intense fighting continued in the area, including dozens of casualties. Patients, wounded people and an estimated 13,000 displaced persons who have taken shelter in Al Amal Hospital and the PRCS headquarters were unable to leave. According to humanitarian partners on the ground, people in the vicinity and the Al Kheir area east of Al Mawasi have lost access to the health facility and have no alternatives for medical assistance in the area.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) reports that attacks on health care continue to rise. In the Gaza Strip, more than 300 attacks have been verified since the beginning of the hostilities on 7 October. In the West Bank too, WHO reports a significant rise in attacks against health care, with over 330 attacks reported since 7 October.

Humanitarian health partners report on a severe shortage of medical staff in some of the hospitals in Gaza. Only 12 medical doctors are still working at Al Aqsa Hospital, which is about ten per cent of the doctors who operated before the start of the hostilities. Nasser Hospital has experienced a significant decrease in staff and patient numbers, as over 50 per cent of staff have left and only 400 out of 750 patients remaining, some seeking care elsewhere or remaining at home.

Beyond telecommunication shutdowns, the capacity of humanitarian agencies to operate safely and effectively anywhere in Gaza remains heavily compromised by recurrent denials of access to the north, restrictions on the import of critical equipment, and the intensity of hostilities, among other factors. For more information, see the Humanitarian Access Snapshot.

Hostilities and casualties (Gaza Strip)

The following are among the deadliest incidents reported on 21 and 22 January:

On 22 January, four Palestinians were reportedly struck and killed as they were trying to recover corpses, following heavy shelling in the area in Al Balad area in Khan Yunis.

On 21 January, two Palestinians were reported to have bled to death following previous strikes and were left for days in the street.

On 22 January, at about 08:30, ten Palestinians were reportedly killed when Al Mawasi School was hit in western Khan Yunis.

On 21 January, at about 16:00, three women were reportedly killed by artillery shells which hit a house in Al Rimal neighbourhood of Gaza City.

On 21 January, at about 16:30, four Palestinians were reportedly killed, including one woman and one child, in western An Nuseirat Refugee Camp, Deir Al Balah.

On 21 January, at about 19:45, three Palestinians were reportedly killed, including one woman and two children, when a residential building housing IDPs was struck in An Nuseirat Refugee Camp, Deir Al Balah.

On 22 January, at about 10:30 hours, Israeli forces reportedly exhumed graves in the Khan Yunis cemetery, southern Gaza.

Electricity

Since 11 October 2023, the Gaza Strip has been under an electricity blackout, after the Israeli authorities cut off the electricity supply, and fuel reserves for Gaza’s sole power plant were depleted. The communications and industrial fuel shutdown continue to significantly hinder the aid community’s efforts to assess the full extent of needs in Gaza and to adequately respond to the deepening humanitarian crisis. For more information on electricity supply to the Gaza Strip, please see this dashboard.

Since 19 November, limited fuel amounts have entered the Gaza Strip from Rafah. However, since these are insufficient, hospitals, water facilities and other critical facilities are still only operating at limited capacity. A Rapid Disaster Needs Assessment team has identified about 570 kilometres of electricity feeder lines that have been damaged as of 12 January. This represents some 57 per cent of feeder lines, with damage expected to have increased further since then. Fuel is urgently needed for the Gaza Electricity Distribution Company (GEDCO) teams to conduct damage assessments and field repairs.

Health care, including attacks (Gaza Strip)

According to WHO, health care in Gaza remains extremely fragile. Only 16 out of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are functional, albeit partially: partial functionality indicates that a hospital is accessible to people in need of health care, can take in new patients and can undertake some level of surgery. More than 90 health facilities and more than 80 ambulances have been affected since the start of the hostilities in October, due to the impact of hostilities, disruption to power supply, fuel shortages and other factors. According to the MoH in Gaza, occupancy rates are reaching 206 per cent in inpatient departments and 250 per cent in intensive care units.

On 22 January, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus expressed concern over the reports of “continuous fighting in the vicinity of Al Amal Hospital and today’s raid at Al Kheir Hospital.” He further stated that fighting puts patients and people seeking safety within (health) facilities at risk and prevents newly injured people outside health facilities from receiving care.

Communicable diseases are on the rise in Gaza with more than 223,000 cases of acute respiratory infections, or 10 per cent of the population; more than 158,000 cases of diarrohea (of which 53 per cent in children under five), and more than 7,500 cases of acute jaundice (several of these acute cases have been confirmed as Hepatitis A). The situation for people with long-term medical conditions, including cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases, and mental health disorders, will be further aggravated by the impact of the conflict and displacement.

Reporting that cases of Hepatitis A have been confirmed in Gaza through test kits supplied by WHO, the Director-General, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus warned that “inhumane living conditions –- barely any clean water, clean toilets, and possibility to keep the surroundings clean – will enable Hepatitis A to spread further … The capacity to diagnose diseases remains extremely limited. There is no functioning laboratory. The capacity to respond remains limited too. We will continue to call for unimpeded and safe access of medical aid and for health to be protected.”

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)

The availability of water in Gaza is shrinking. According to WASH humanitarian partners, water availability through the municipal wells is presently at 21,200 cubic metres a day, which is tenth of their production capacity of 255,000 cubic metres a day prior to the escalation of hostilities. Water from these wells is known to be substandard given it is brackish (salty), whereas water from the Israeli-operated lines yielded the optimal safe drinking water prior to the hostilities. At present, only one of the three Israeli lines – the Bani Sa’id point – is functional, yielding 22,000 cubic metres a day, which is less than half of what would have been available if all lines were working.

Furthermore, water availability through the short-term desalination plants presently stands at 1,600 cubic metres per day, which is 7 per cent of the pre-crisis capacity of 22,000 cubic metres per day. Due to import restrictions on critical items, water testing kits and chlorine to treat the water across Gaza are presently unavailable. Furthermore, the amalgamation of solid waste and fecal waste, exacerbated by rains and floods, is giving rise to severe health and environmental threats. With WHO already reporting 158,000 cases of diarrhoea, the inability to perform water chlorination to kill bacteria is exacerbating the already concerning situation. At present, Health and WASH partners have developed an Acute Watery Diarrhoea preparedness and response plan. Barriers to the import of critical items must be removed to enable adequate response.

Settler Violence

Since 7 October 2023 and as of 22 January 2024, OCHA has recorded 444 Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians, resulting in Palestinian casualties (45 incidents), damage to Palestinian-owned property (344 incidents), or both casualties and damage to property (55 incidents). This reflects a daily average of four incidents.

One-third of the settler attacks against Palestinians after 7 October 2023 have involved firearms, including shootings and threats of shootings. In nearly half of all recorded incidents after 7 October, Israeli forces were either accompanying or reported to be supporting the attackers.

In 2023, 1,229 incidents involving Israeli settlers in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem (with or without Israeli forces), resulted in Palestinian casualties, property damage or both. Some 913 of these incidents resulted in damage, 163 resulted in casualties and 153 resulted in both. This is the highest number of settler attacks against Palestinians in any given year since OCHA started recording incidents involving settlers in 2006.

Displacement (West Bank)

Since 7 October 2023 and as of 22 January 2024, at least 198 Palestinian households comprising 1,208 people, including 586 children, have been displaced amid settler violence and access restrictions. The displaced households are from at least 15 herding/Bedouin communities. More than half of the displacements occurred on 12, 15, and 28 October, affecting seven communities. The displacement toll since 7 October 2023, represents 78 per cent of all displacement reported due to settler violence and access restrictions since 1 January 2023 (1,539 people, including 756 children).

Since 7 October 2023 and as of 22 January 2024, 479 Palestinians, including 239 children, have been displaced following the demolition of their homes due to lack of Israeli-issued building permits in Area C and East Jerusalem, which are almost impossible to obtain.

On 21 January, the Israeli authorities demolished on punitive grounds two residential structures comprising three apartments, and caused damage to a fourth apartment, displacing five people, including two children, in Hebron city. The houses belonged to the families of two of the three Palestinians who were shot and killed while they were carrying out a shooting attack against Israeli forces stationed at the Beit Jala checkpoint near Bethlehem. A total of 21 homes have been demolished and 100 Palestinians, including 44 children, have been displaced due to punitive demolitions from 7 October 2023 and as of 22 January 2024. The numbers exceed those reported in the first nine months of 2023, during which 16 homes were punitively demolished and 78 people displaced.

Since 7 October 2023 and as of 22 January 2024, 739 Palestinians, including 309 children, have been displaced, following the destruction of 115 homes during other operations carried out by Israeli forces across the West Bank. About 95 per cent of the displacement was reported in the refugee camps of Jenin, Nur Shams and Tulkarm. This represents 81 per cent of all displacement reported due to the destruction of homes during Israeli military operations since January 2023 (908 people).

West Bank

[Palestinian Monitoring Group]

Israeli Army attack – 1 wounded – armed robbery – home invasions: Ramallah – 01:10–04:05, Israeli Occupation forces, firing live ammunition, stormed the village of Kafr Ein and invaded a number of homes, wounding one resident, Ahmed Khalil Kharma, and robbing another of his motor vehicle.

Israeli Army attack: Jenin – 18:30, Israeli forces stormed and patrolled the village of Faqua, opening fire indiscriminately.

Israeli Army attack – 1 wounded – home invasion: Tulkarem – 21:45–23:45, the Israeli Army stormed the al-Shuweikh suburb, opening fire on a motor vehicle and wounding a resident: Aqab Othman Basis. One home was raided and searched by Israeli troops.

Israeli Army attack: Nablus – 15:50, Israeli soldiers, firing live ammunition, stormed and patrolled Burin village.

Israeli settler attack: Nablus – 08:35, an armed Israeli, from the Yitzhar Occupation settlement, opened fire towards farmers on agricultural land, between the villages of Asira al-Qibliya and Madama.

Israeli Army attack – population–control: Salfit – 10:10, the Israeli military threateningly opened fire towards a farmer, Nihad Al-Arayedh, forcing him to abandon his land near the northern entrance to Salfit.

Israeli Army attack: Bethlehem – 08:35, Israeli soldiers opened fire on a passing motor vehicle, near the entrance to the village of Husan.

Israeli Army attack: Bethlehem – 18:55, Israeli Occupation forces, firing live ammunition, stormed into Nahalin.

Israeli Army attack – pastoral sabotage: Hebron – 17:45, Israeli forces, in the village of Manzil, opened fire on and killed livestock owned by a family of villagers.

Israeli Army attack – 3 wounded in refugee camp – 3 taken prisoner: Hebron – 22:50, the Israeli Army, firing live ammunition, stormed the al-Aroub refugee camp, wounding one person and taking prisoner three others.

Home invasion and forced personal demolition: Jerusalem – the Israeli Occupation forced a resident, Dirar Darwish, to destroy his home in al-Za’im – or otherwise be forced to pay an extortionate sum to the Israeli Occupation demolition squads, who would be sent in to do it.

Home invasions – 1 taken prisoner: place – Ramallah – 02:00, Israeli forces raided Beitunya, invaded a number of homes, and took prisoner one resident.

Home invasion: Tulkarem – 11:45-13:15, the Israeli Army raided the city and searched a house.

Home invasion: Nablus – 00:30, Israeli Occupation forces raided Beit Furik and searched a home.

Home invasion: Salfit – 23:40–02:10, Israeli troops raided Bidya and searched a home.

Home invasion: Bethlehem – 13:50, the Israeli military raided Nahalin and searched a house.

Home invasion: Bethlehem – 01:30–02:35, Israeli soldiers raided the village of al-Manshiya and searched a home.

Home invasions – 3 taken prisoner: Hebron – 16:15, Israeli Occupation forces, firing rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades, raided Sa’ir and invaded a number of homes, taking prisoner three residents.

Israeli police and settlers’ mosque violation: Jerusalem – 08:00, settler militants, escorted by Israeli police, invaded the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and molested worshippers.

Israeli Army armed robbery and population–control: Ramallah – 12:15, Israeli forces seized a bulldozer, as well as other equipment, being used for work on a road passing the Beit El Occupation settlement.

Israeli Army agricultural sabotage: Qalqiliya – 08:30, the Israeli Army bulldozed farmland, near the entrances to Jinsafut and al-Funduq, in preparation for building a bypass settlement road behind al-Funduq village.

Israeli Army population–control: Hebron – 11:30, Israeli troops, in the Old City, prevented teaching staff and the Director of the Ibrahimi School from entering the school.

Occupation settler land-grab: Tubas – 17:40, Israeli Occupation settlers in the Ein al-Hilweh area of the North Jordan Valley, seized some nearby farmland and began ploughing it.

Occupation settler land-grab: Nablus – 09:10, Israeli settlers seized, and bulldozed, ​​nearby farmland opposite the Awarta checkpoint.

Occupation settler vandalism at nunnery: Bethlehem – 17:40, stone-throwing Occupation settlers raided the village of Irtas and damaged the solar panels at a nunnery.

Occupation settler land-grab: Hebron – 14:15, Israeli settlers seized and fenced off land, east of Yatta.

Occupation settler land-grab: Hebron – 23:15, Israelis, from the Shimaa Occupation settlement south of al-Samou, seized and ploughed land near the bypass road in al-Dhahiriya.

Raid – population–control: Jerusalem – 09:55, Israeli Occupation forces raided the village of al-Jib and presented orders, to stop building a wedding hall, as well as for demolishing a wall surrounding a villager’s house.

Raid: Ramallah – 22:45, Israeli forces raided and patrolled the village of Deir Ammar.

Raid – 1 youngster among those beaten: Jenin – 20:30, the Israeli Army raided Ya’bad and beat up a 17-year-old youth, Fares Ali Turkman, as well as two other people: Ihab Bassam Turkman and Murad Bassam Turkman.

Raids: Tubas – 13:55, Israeli troops raided and patrolled the villages of Bardala and Ein al-Bayda.

Raids – 2 taken prisoner: Tulkarem – 02:45, the Israeli military raided Deir al-Ghousoun and Attil, taking prisoner two people.

Raid: Tulkarem – 03:00, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled Baqa al-Sharqiya.

Raid – 2 taken prisoner: Qalqiliya – 03:50–05:30, Israeli Occupation forces raided the city, taking prisoner two people.

Raid: Nablus – 21:05–22:15, Israeli forces raided and patrolled Beita.

Raid: Nablus – 22:50–01:35, the Israeli Army raided and patrolled Sebastia.

Raid: Salfit – 12:55, Israeli troops raided and patrolled the city.

Raid: Salfit – 15:35, the Israeli military raided and patrolled Kifl Haris.

Raid: Salfit – 19:15-21:05, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled the village of Marda.

Raid: Salfit – 19:15, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled the village of Iskaka.

Raid: Salfit – 20:00–23:00, Israeli forces raided and patrolled the city.

Raid: Salfit – 23:35, the Israeli Army raided and patrolled Qarawat Bani Hassan.

Raid: Jericho – 03:30–04:50, Israeli troops raided the city.

Raid – 1 taken prisoner in refugee camp: Jericho – 03:30–04:50, the Israeli military raided the Ein Sultan refugee camp, taking prisoner one person.

Raid: Bethlehem – 16:25, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled the village of Husan.

Raid: Bethlehem – 18:55-21:05, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled Nahalin.

Raid: Bethlehem – 19:45, Israeli forces raided and patrolled the village of Husan.

Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Bethlehem – 19:45–22:00, the Israeli Army raided the village of Husan, taking prisoner one person.

Raid – beating up: Bethlehem – 20:25, Israeli troops raided the village of Battir, beating up and injuring a resident: Laith Ali Hussein Awaina.

Raid: Bethlehem – 20:35–04:35, the Israeli military raided and patrolled Beit Fajjar.

Raid – beating up: Hebron – dawn, Israeli soldiers, firing rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades, raided and patrolled the Ras al-Jura area, injuring a resident: Musab Tariq Al-Harbawi.

Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Hebron – 22:40, Israeli Occupation forces raided al-Dhahiriya, taking prisoner one person.

Raid – 2 taken prisoner: Hebron – 23:20, Israeli forces raided Dura, injuring a resident, Hussein Youssef Obaid, and taking prisoner two people.

Raid – stun grenades: Hebron – 23:40, the Israeli Army, firing stun grenades, raided and patrolled the village of Deir al-Asal al-Tahta.