In Occupied Palestine
Zionism in practice
Israel’s Daily Toll on Palestinian Life, Limb, Liberty and Land
08:00, 20 February until 08:00, 21 February 2024
[Source of statistics: Palestinian Monitoring Group]
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: 118 people killed in Gaza brings the total number of deaths since 7 October to at least 29,313. With another 163 wounded, that has risen to 69,333. Fully accurate statistics are not available, due to insecurity menacing hospitals in the Gaza Strip.
OCHA Flash Update #123
Key points
Intense Israeli bombardment from air, land and sea continues to be reported across much of the Gaza Strip, resulting in further civilian casualties, displacement, and destruction of civilian infrastructure. Ground operations and heavy fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups also continue to be reported, particularly south of Gaza city and Al Mawasi area northwest of Khan Younis, where tens of thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) are currently located.
Between the afternoons of 20 and 21 February, according to the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza, 118 Palestinians were killed, and 163 Palestinians were injured. Between 7 October 2023 and noon on 21 February 2024, at least 29,313 Palestinians were killed in Gaza and 69,333 Palestinians were injured, according to MoH in Gaza. There are no figures available for the number of detainees from the Gaza Strip held by the Israeli military.
Between the afternoons of 20 and 21 February, one Israeli soldier was reported killed in Gaza. As of 21 February, 235 soldiers have been killed and 1,395 soldiers injured in Gaza since the beginning of the ground operation, according to the Israeli military. In addition, over 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed in Israel, according to the Israeli authorities, the vast majority on 7 October. As of 21 February, the Israeli authorities estimate that some 134 Israelis and foreign nationals remain captive in Gaza and include fatalities whose bodies are being withheld.
Catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity are reportedly intensifying across Gaza, with growing reports of families struggling to feed their children and a rising risk of hunger-induced deaths in northern Gaza. The Global Nutrition Cluster is reporting a steep rise in malnutrition among children and pregnant and breastfeeding women in the Gaza Strip. The situation is especially serious in northern Gaza where 1 in 6 children under the age of two (15.6 per cent) who were screened at IDP shelters and health centres in January were found to be acutely malnourished, a decline in a population’s nutritional status that is unprecedented globally in three months. In comparison, 5 per cent of children under the age of two in Rafah were found to be acutely malnourished, evidence that access to humanitarian aid can help prevent the worst outcomes. In addition, 70 per cent of screened children had diarrhoea in the preceding two weeks, a 23-fold increase compared with the 2022 baseline. “Hunger and disease are a deadly combination,” warned Dr Mike Ryan, Executive Director of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Health Emergencies Programme. “Hungry, weakened and deeply traumatised children are more likely to get sick, and children who are sick, especially with diarrhoea, cannot absorb nutrients well. It’s dangerous, and tragic, and happening before our eyes.” Earlier this month, Anera highlighted the “silent crisis” of hunger-induced deaths: “In the tragic circumstances of starvation in Gaza, there’s a compounding issue: many who perish from starvation-related symptoms aren’t accurately documented. Their deaths often get attributed to other physical causes, masking the true toll of starvation.”
A public health catastrophe is unfolding in the Gaza Strip despite repeated warnings, and this requires urgent action, warned the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and health clusters in the occupied Palestinian territory on 20 February. According to the same sources, the only currently operating water pipeline from Israel is operational at 47 per cent of its full capacity, the water desalination plant in northern Gaza ceased operations in October 2023, all wastewater treatment plants are no longer functional, and 83 per cent of groundwater wells are not operating. The dire water and sanitation conditions are also aggravating the state of health in Gaza, with more than 300,000 reported cases of acute respiratory infections and more than 200,000 reported cases of acute watery diarrhoea, of whom more than half are children under five, among other outbreaks. Accordingly, the WASH and health clusters emphasise that effective early detection of infectious diseases and prevention of avoidable deaths require inter alia a major scale-up in capacities, the removal of impediments to the entry and distribution of aid including fuel, as well as the free and safe movement of medical and humanitarian personnel into and within the Gaza Strip.
Humanitarian operations continue to face immense challenges, with aid workers themselves killed. On 21 February, Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) reported that a shelter hosting MSF staff and their families in Al Mawasi area west of Khan Younis was shelled. As a result, at least two family members of MSF staff were killed* and six others were injured, including two children with burns, all evacuated by Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) medical teams to the International Medical Corps field hospital in Rafah, in coordination with OCHA. Since 7 October, 160 UN staff have been killed in Gaza.
Intense hostilities, limitations on the entry and delivery of aid, and growing insecurity continue to gravely hamper the provision of lifesaving services across Gaza. On 20 February, PRCS reported that Al Amal hospital in Khan Younis continues to be directly impacted by artillery shelling that led to major damage to its facilities and to casualties. The hospital already faces a lack of fuel reserves to generate electricity for high-risk patients and a near exhaustion of food supplies. On 20 February, PRCS ambulances evacuated 21 injured people from Nasser Hospital, also in Khan Younis, to two field Hospitals in Rafah, in collaboration with WHO and OCHA. The previous two days, the same partners had evacuated 32 patients in critical condition from Nasser Hospital to three other hospitals in Gaza following the siege and raid on the hospital complex by the Israeli military. According to MoH in Gaza, some 110 sick and injured patients, and an estimated 15 doctors and nurses, still remain in the hospital, which has no electricity or running water, has sewage water flooding some departments, medical waste accumulating, and the decomposing bodies of eight ICU patients who died for lack of oxygen. As of 21 February, there are 12 partially functional hospitals in the Gaza Strip, including six in northern Gaza and six in the south, in addition to three partly functional field hospitals, according to WHO. As of 18 February, according to UNRWA, only seven out of its 23 health centres are now operational.
On 20 February, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) announced that it is pausing deliveries of food aid to northern Gaza, largely due to a breakdown in civil order combined with the absence of a functioning humanitarian notification system. On 21 February, WFP Chief Cindy McCain stated: “We’ve had to make the impossible choice to pause aid distributions in Northern Gaza. There’s an incredible level of desperation against the backdrop of immense humanitarian need. A famine doesn’t have to happen. But if things don’t change, it will.” Between 1 January and 15 February, less than 20 per cent of missions (15 out of 77) planned by humanitarian partners to deliver aid and undertake assessments in areas to the north of Wadi Gaza were facilitated by the Israeli authorities fully or partially and 51 per cent were denied (39 out of 77). Facilitated missions primarily involved food distribution, while the access of missions to support hospitals and facilities providing water, hygiene and sanitation (WASH) services was among those overwhelmingly denied.
The following are among the deadliest incidents reported on 19 February:
On 19 February, at about 13:00, five Palestinians were reportedly killed and others injured when a group of people was struck in western Khan Younis.
On 19 February, at about 20:00, six Palestinians were killed and others injured when a house in Al Zeitoun neighbourhood, in eastern Gaza city, was struck.
On 19 February, at about 20:30, four Palestinians were killed and others injured when a residential square in western An Nuseirat, in Deir al Balah, was hit. Other bodies reportedly remain under the rubble.
West Bank Updates
On 20 February, an Israeli forces undercover unit shot and killed a Palestinian man after besieging a house in Jenin Refugee Camp; another Palestinian was injured. The unit was followed by Israeli forces and bulldozers. Clashes erupted between Palestinian armed groups and Israeli forces, with reports on an exchange of fire when the unit was discovered by Palestinians. Initial information indicates that multiple sections of roads in the camp were bulldozed, causing severe damage to infrastructure, and at least two houses sustained severe damage when they were hit by Israeli drones. The operation ended in the early morning hours of the next day.
Since 7 October 2023 and as of 20 February, 394 Palestinians have been killed, including 100 children, and 4,528 Palestinians, including 702 children, have been injured in conflict-related incidents across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Israel. During the same period, 12 Israelis, including four members of Israeli forces, were killed and 80 injured in conflict-related incidents in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Israel.
Since 7 October 2023 and as of 20 February, OCHA has recorded 573 Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians that resulted in Palestinian casualties (51 incidents), damage to Palestinian-owned property (459 incidents), or both casualties and damage to property (63 incidents).
Demolition of five homes due to the lack of Israeli-issued permits on 19 and 20 February, resulted in displacement to 25 Palestinians, including eight children, in Al Walaja village (Bethlehem) and Ras al Amud area in East Jerusalem. Two of the houses were demolished by their owners to avoid paying fines imposed by the Israeli authorities. Since 7 October 2023 and as of 20 February, 551 people, including 264 children, have been displaced in Area C, and East Jerusalem, after their homes were demolished due to the lack of Israeli-issued building permits, which are almost impossible to obtain.
Since 7 October 2023, 830 Palestinians, including 337 children, have been displaced, following the destruction of 131 homes during 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.
West Bank
[Palestinian Monitoring Group]
Israeli Army attack: Ramallah – 17:15, Israeli Occupation forces fired live ammunition towards people, near the eastern entrance to the village of al-Mughayir.
Israeli Army attack: Ramallah – 18:30, Israeli forces fired live ammunition towards people in Turmusaya.
Israeli Army attack – home bombarded – 1 killed – 2 wounded: Jenin – 19:50–04:30, the Israeli Army stormed the Jenin refugee camp, besieging a house and bombarding it with Energa shells, killing one resident, Arif Marwan Arif Ali, and and wounding two others: Mahmoud Abu Al-Nahl and Hussam Mazen Ali Ahmed. Eight people were taken prisoner, as the Israeli forces bulldozed streets and destroyed infrastructure.
Israeli Army attack: Tulkarem – 11:20, armed Israeli settlers opened indiscriminate fire, in Kafr al-Labad.
Israeli settler attack – beating-up: Nablus – evening, armed Israeli settlers, in the Duma village reserve, opened fire towards four people, three of whom escaped. The one who remained was beaten up by the settlers.
Home invasion and forced personal demolition: Jerusalem – 21:30, the Israeli Occupation forced a resident, Hosni Shweiki, to destroy his apartment building in Silwan – 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: Ramallah – 02:00, Israeli Occupation forces raided the village of Deir Abu Mash’al and searched a number of homes.
Home invasion: Jenin – 11:00, Israeli forces raided the village of Jalboun and invaded a house.
Home invasions: Qalqiliya – 00:50–06:00, the Israeli Army raided the village of Kafr Qaddum and invaded five homes.
Home invasions – rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades fired: Hebron – 21:05–01:00, the Israeli military, firing rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades, invaded a number of homes.
Home invasion: Hebron – 01:15, Israeli troops raided al-Samou and searched a house.
Home invasion: Hebron – 02:30, the Israeli military raided al-Dhahiriya and invaded a home.
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 assault in refugee camp: Jerusalem – 23:30, raiding Israeli Occupation forces fired rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades, in the Shuafat refugee camp.
Israeli Army – assault in refugee camp: Ramallah – 15:50, raiding Israeli forces fired rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades, in the al-Jalazoun refugee camp.
Israeli Army – armed robbery: Ramallah – 11:00, the Israeli Army, near the Shuqba village road junction, seized a motor vehicle belonging to one person, Samer Fawzi Musa Atta.
Israeli Army – population–control: Jenin – 13:00, Israeli troops took prisoner a man, Wissam Jawad Obaidi, after he reported, as ordered, for interrogation at Israeli Military Intelligence.
Israeli Army – rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades fired: Bethlehem – 20:05, the Israeli military, in the Umm Rukba area al-Khadr, fired rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades.
Israeli Army – abduction: Bethlehem – 23:05, Israeli soldiers abducted a 17-year-old youth, Hussein Shadi Hussein Salah, in the Umm Rukba area of al-Khadr.
Israeli Army – water crime: Hebron – 11:55, Israeli Occupation forces bulldozed water supply-lines in the Susiya area, east of Yatta.
Occupation settler stoning: Ramallah – 18:00, Israelis, from the Halamish Occupation settlement, stoned a home near the entrance to Deir Nizam village.
Occupation population–control: Nablus – 09:40, Israelis, from the Yitzhar Occupation settlement, set up a checkpoint between the villages of Urif and Asira al-Qibliya, and searched passing vehicles.
Occupation settler stoning: Nablus – 17:00, Israeli settlers stoned passing vehicle, at the entrance to the village of Bizzaria.
Occupation settler terror and pastoral sabotage: Bethlehem – 13:40–16:30, Israeli settlers, on al-Minya village pastoral land, terrorised shepherds in order to force them off it.
Occupation settler terror and pastoral sabotage: Hebron – 11:30, Israeli settlers terrorised shepherds in the al-Tuwani area, east of Yatta.
Occupation settler plunder and pastoral sabotage: Hebron – 13:20, Israelis, from the Bani Hefer Occupation settlement, seized a flock of around 300 sheep, south of Bani Na’im.
Occupation settler arson and agricultural sabotage: Hebron – 17:30-21:05, Israeli settlers invaded the al-Taybeh area, in Tarqumiya, and set fire to two agricultural buildings.
Raid – destruction and population–control: Jerusalem – 22:20, Israeli Occupation forces raided Abu Dis and bulldozed the main street, adjacent to the Al-Quds University campus.
Raid: Jerusalem – 22:40, Israeli forces raided and patrolled Hizma.
Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Ramallah – 08:05, the Israeli Army raided the village of Deir Jarir, taking prisoner one person.
Raid: Ramallah – 11:35, Israeli troops raided and patrolled the village of Aboud.
Raid: Ramallah – 17:30-22:40, the Israeli military raided Silwad.
Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Ramallah – 04:50, Israeli soldiers raided the city, taking prisoner one person.
Raids: Jenin – 09:10-12:50, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled Silat al-Harithiya, al-Yamoun and the village of Ta’anak.
Raid: Jenin – 12:15-15:15, Israeli forces raided and patrolled the village of Deir Ghazaleh.
Raid: Jenin – 20:25–23:55, the Israeli Army raided and patrolled the village of Jalboun.
Raids – destruction – population–control: Jenin – 19:50, Israeli troops, while raiding the city as well as the refugee camp, bulldozed streets and destroyed infrastructure in both areas.
Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Tubas – 01:55–03:15, the Israeli military raided Tamoun, taking prisoner one person.
Raid: Tulkarem – 11:35, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled Beit Lid.
Raid: Qalqiliya – 18:40, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled Azzun.
Raids: Qalqiliya – 19:50, Israeli forces raided and patrolled Hablat, as well as the village of Ras Atiya.
Raid: Nablus – 17:55, the Israeli Army raided and patrolled the village of Burqa.
Raid: Nablus – 19:50, Israeli troops raided and patrolled the village of Asira al-Qibliya.
Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Nablus – 01:35–02:20, the Israeli military raided Beita, taking prisoner one person.
Raids – including on refugee camp: Nablus – 02:10–04:15, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled the city as well as the Askar refugee camp.
Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Nablus – 03:15–06:20, Israeli Occupation forces raided Qabalan, taking prisoner one person.
Raid: Salfit – 21:10–00:15, Israeli forces raided and patrolled Kafr al-Dik.
Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Bethlehem – 09:45, the Israeli Army raided al-Khadr, taking prisoner one person.
Raid: Bethlehem – 11:15, Israeli troops raided and patrolled the village of Husan.
Raid: Bethlehem – 14:45, the Israeli military raided and patrolled Tuqu.
Raid – population–control: Hebron – 14:15, Israeli soldiers raided the village of Sheikh al-Aroub and delivered a number of home-demolition orders.
Raid: Hebron – 14:50-17:20, Israeli Occupation forces raided Idhna and invaded scrap-dealing shop.
Raid: Hebron – 15:30, Israeli forces raided the city.
Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Hebron – 20:40, the Israeli Army raided Bani Naim, taking prisoner one person.
Raid – 2 taken prisoner: Hebron – 02:25, Israeli troops raided Beit Awa, taking prisoner two people.
Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Hebron – 04:10, the Israeli military raided the city, taking prisoner one person.
YAWN!