In Occupied Palestine

Zionism in practice

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

08:00, 22 February until 08:00, 23 February 2024

[Source of statistics: Palestinian Monitoring Group]

Gaza Strip

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: 104 people killed in Gaza brings the total number of deaths since 7 October to at least 29,514. With another 160 wounded, that has risen to 69,616. Fully accurate statistics are not available, due to insecurity menacing hospitals in the Gaza Strip.

OCHA Flash Update #125

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 in Jabalya (northern Gaza), Gaza city, Deir al Balah and Khan Younis.

Between the afternoon of 22 February and 10:30 on 23 February, according to the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza, 104 Palestinians were killed, and 160 Palestinians were injured. Between 7 October 2023 and 10:30 on 23 February 2024, at least 29,514 Palestinians were killed in Gaza and 69,616 Palestinians were injured, according to MoH in Gaza.

On 22 February, Israeli forces conducted airstrikes reportedly on residential buildings, mainly in Deir al Balah and Rafah, without prior warning, resulting in the death and injury of multiple people from the same family, including children. The following are among the deadliest incidents reported on 21 and 22 February:

On 21 February, at about 20:20, 22 Palestinians were reportedly killed, and tens of others were injured, when a residential building in western An Nuseirat Camp, in Deir al Balah, was struck.

On 22 February, at about 0:15, three Palestinians, including one child, were reportedly killed, and others were injured, when a residential building sheltering internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Al Geneina neighbourhood, northern Rafah, was struck.

On 22 February, at about 1:30, four Palestinians were reportedly killed, including three children, when a residential building in Deir al Balah was struck.

On 22 February, at about 7:20, four Palestinians were reportedly killed, when a residential building in Az Zawayda, Deir al Balah, was struck.

On 22 February, In the Zaytoun neighbourhood of Gaza city, up to eighteen people from the same family were reportedly killed, and several remained unaccounted for, in a strike on a residential building

Between the afternoons of 22 and 23 February, no Israeli soldiers were reported killed in Gaza. As of 23 February, 235 soldiers have been killed and 1,396 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 23 February, the Israeli authorities estimate that some 134 Israelis and foreign nationals remain captive in Gaza and include fatalities whose bodies are being withheld.

On 22 February, Christopher Lockyear, Secretary-General of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), briefed the UN Security Council. On 21 February, a shelter hosting MSF staff and their families in Gaza was shelled, killing two family members of MSF staff and injuring six others. MSF staff are treating patients with catastrophic injuries, amputations, crushed limbs, and severe burns, despite a lack of hospital beds, medications and supplies. Surgeons are reusing basic gauze on their patients and have had to carry out amputations without anaesthesia on children. Patients need sophisticated care and long and intensive rehabilitation, but since 7 October, MSF have been forced to evacuate nine different health facilities. The MSF Secretary-General again called for an immediate and sustained ceasefire in Gaza and for the unequivocal protection of medical facilities, staff and patients. Also on 22 February, UN Security Council members expressed their deep concern regarding the extremely difficult and dangerous conditions under which UN personnel and the broader humanitarian and health care community are operating in Gaza and stressed the importance of respecting deconflicting mechanisms for the safety and security of UN personnel and facilities.

A new report by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the Johns Hopkins Center for Humanitarian Health estimates the potential public health impact of the current conflict in the Gaza Strip, focusing on the deaths in excess of what would have been expected in the absence of hostilities. The report provides a range of projections of what could happen under three distinct scenarios and covers a six-month period from 7 February to 6 August 2024. Under an immediate permanent ceasefire scenario, 6,550 excess deaths are projected, mainly due to the time needed to improve water, sanitation and shelter conditions, reduce malnutrition, and restore functioning healthcare services. Under the ‘current status quo’ and ‘escalation of the conflict’ scenarios, the projections rise sharply to 58,260 and 74,290 excess deaths, with traumatic injuries followed by infectious diseases being the main causes of additional fatalities in both cases. These figures are based on the absence of epidemics; should outbreaks of infectious disease such as cholera occur, the projections rise significantly to 11,580, 66,720 and 85,750 excess deaths, respectively. The report underscores the lasting impact of the conflict on the civilian population and emphasizes the urgent need for improved sanitation, nutrition, and healthcare services in Gaza.

On 22 February, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) reported that its VHF system had been disabled, due to artillery shelling near Al Amal Hospital in Khan Younis, aggravating challenges in communicating with field teams, in particular ambulances. On 20 February, 7,500 litres of fuel were delivered to the hospital, to operate the back-up power generator, but the hospital urgently requires additional fuel, as well as food and medical supplies. Some 140 sick and injured patients, their families, and healthcare workers, still remain in Nasser Hospital, also in Khan Younis, which is struggling to operate, with no electricity, running water, sufficient food supplies, or drinking water. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), as of 22 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. On 22 February, the newly appointed Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean for WHO stressed that funding cuts to UNRWA would result in ‘further catastrophic consequences’ for people in Gaza, and stated that ‘no agency, including WHO, can meet the critical gaps left if UNRWA is unable to fully operate.’

Catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity are reportedly intensifying across Gaza, with Save the Children reporting that families are forced to “forage for scraps or food left by rats and eating leaves out of desperation to survive,” amid rapidly declining aid supplies. Without an increased access to adequate food, water, sanitation, hygiene and comprehensive health and nutrition services for children and families, the risk of famine is projected to increase, the organization added. Recently, the Global Nutrition Cluster reported a steep rise in malnutrition among children and pregnant and breastfeeding women in Gaza, with serious concerns in northern Gaza (see Cluster updates below). To avert the threat of mass starvation, Save the Children is calling for safe unfettered humanitarian aid access for a massive scale-up in humanitarian aid supplies and the personnel needed to deliver it, particularly in northern Gaza.

West Bank Updates

On 22 February, an Israeli drone struck a vehicle travelling in Jenin refugee camp, killing two Palestinians, a man and a 17-year-old child, and injuring 13 other Palestinians, including one in a critical condition. According to the Israeli military, the man was involved in attacks against Israelis and was on his way to carry out another attack.

Since 7 October 2023, 399 Palestinians have been killed, including 102 children, and 4,545 Palestinians have been injured, including 702 children, in conflict-related incidents across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Israel. During the same period, 13 Israelis, including four members of Israeli forces, were killed and 86 injured in conflict-related incidents in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Israel.

On 21 February, OCHA issued a report highlighting trends in displacement in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in 2023. About 4,000 Palestinians were displaced from their homes in 2023, of whom 29 per cent (1,153) were displaced when 214 homes were demolished in Area C and East Jerusalem for lacking building permits issued by the Israeli authorities, the highest such figure documented by OCHA since 2009. Israeli settler violence and shrinking access to grazing land were also a main cause of displacement; at least 1,539 Palestinians (39 per cent of total displacement) were displaced in this context in 2023, the majority in the aftermath of 7 October, with at least 14 Palestinian communities now completely depopulated. Nearly twenty-five per cent of the overall displacement (911) took place as a result of operations carried out by the Israeli army, particularly in refugee camps in the northern West Bank. Some 200 Palestinians (5 per cent) were additionally displaced from Masafer Yatta and H2 areas of Hebron, citing heightened access and movement restrictions and search-and-arrest operations by the Israeli army after 7 October. Finally, 173 people were displaced as a result of the punitive demolition of homes belonging to the families of Palestinians allegedly responsible for attacks against Israelis, accounting for 4 per cent of overall displacement.

On 21 February, a Palestinian family in Ath Thuri in East Jerusalem was forced to demolish the two upper floors of their three-storey residential building, due to the lack of Israeli-issued permits. The first floor was built before 1967 and did not receive a demolition order. As a result, five families comprising 23 children, including 12 children, were displaced. Since 7 October 2023, 576 people, including 276 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, Israeli forces punitively demolished or sealed off 24 Palestinian-owned homes, displacing 117 Palestinians, including 51 children.

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.

On 23 February, an Israeli settler from an outpost associated with Nili settlement, near Qibya village (west of Ramallah), shot and injured a Palestinian man, with live ammunition reportedly after the settler brought his livestock to graze on cultivated Palestinian land. Also on 23 February, settlers from Bracha settlement raided the village of Burin in Nablus and set fire to a Palestinian vehicle. Since 7 October 2023, OCHA has recorded 583 Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians that resulted in Palestinian casualties (52 incidents), damage to Palestinian-owned property (467 incidents), or both casualties and damage to property (64 incidents).

West Bank

[Palestinian Monitoring Group]

Israeli Army attack – 1 wounded in refugee camp: Ramallah – 21:20, Israeli Occupation forces stormed the al-Jalazoun refugee camp, wounding a resident.

Israeli Army air strike – 2 killed, 14 wounded in refugee camp: Jenin – 21:55, an Israeli drone-launched missile struck a motor vehicle in the city’s refugee camp, killing two people: Saeed Raed Jaradat (aged 17) and Yasser Mustafa Abdel Rahman Hanoun. Fourteen others were wounded in the strike.

Israeli settler attack – agricultural sabotage: Nablus – 12:40, an armed Israeli Occupation settler opened fire on, and damaged, a bulldozer being driven by its owner: Abbas Wael Haj Muhammad.

Israeli settler attack – economic sabotage: Nablus – 22:20, settlers, near the entrance to the village of Naqouram, opened fire on an electricity transformer, which led to a power outage in the village.

Israeli Army attack – 1 child and 1 adult wounded in refugee camp: Bethlehem – 16:20, Israeli forces, firing live ammunition, stormed the Dheisheh refugee camp wounding a 14-year-old boy, Ahmed Nader Ali Sukkar, and one other person: Hamza Nasser Abu Ajamiya.

Home invasion and armed robbery: Salfit – 11:35, Israeli Occupation forces raided Deir Ballut, invaded a house and stole a motor vehicle.

Home invasion and demolition: Bethlehem – 09:55-14:30, Israeli forces raided the village of Beit Ta’mir, interrogated a man, Issa Ali Zawahra, as well as his two sons, and destroyed their 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 with rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters fired: Jerusalem – 15:00, Israeli Occupation forces, in the village of Beit Duqqu, fired rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades.

Occupation settler violence – agricultural sabotage: Jenin – 11:55, Israelis, from the Mevo Dotan Occupation settlement, invaded farmland situated between Kafr Ra’i and the village of Fahma, and assaulted four people: Ahmed Adib Nawasra, Iyad Hamdan Nawasra, Abdul Latif Nazmi Jawabra and Muhammad Ibrahim Saleh Melhem.

Occupation settler population–control: Nablus – 12:00, Israeli settlers closed the main Nablus to Tulkarem road.

Occupation settler arson attack: Nablus – 03:45, Israeli Occupation settlers stormed the village of Burin, stoned a house and set fire to a motor vehicle.

Occupation settler land-grab: Bethlehem – Israelis, from the Givat Eitam Occupation settlement outpost, installed three mobile homes on land seized beyond the outpost, near the village of Wadi Rahal.

Occupation settler violence – pastoral sabotage: Bethlehem – Israelis, from the Takwa Occupation settlement, assaulted a number of shepherds east of Tuqu’, and forced them off the land at gunpoint.

Occupation settler stoning: Bethlehem – 14:40, Israeli settlers stoned passing vehicles, near the Za’tara checkpoint.

Occupation settler stoning: Hebron – 22:00, Israelis, from the Kiryat Arba Occupation settlement, stoned nearby passing vehicles.

Raid – 2 taken prisoner: Ramallah – 11:55–14:50, Israeli Occupation forces raided Birzeit, taking prisoner two people.

Raid: Ramallah – 13:10-14:45, Israeli forces raided and patrolled Kharbatha al-Misbah.

Raid: Ramallah – 16:30, the Israeli Army raided and patrolled Turmusaya.

Raids: Ramallah – 17:30, Israeli troops raided and patrolled Silwad and Ni’lin.

Raid: Ramallah – 18:15-20:35, the Israeli military raided and patrolled Sinjil.

Raid: Ramallah – 02:45–04:20, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled the village of Kafr Ni’ma.

Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Ramallah – dawn, Israeli Occupation forces raided Qibya village, taking prisoner one person.

Raid – rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades fired: Ramallah – 18:20, Israeli forces fired rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades, in Beitunya.

Raids: Jenin – 22:20–01:50, the Israeli Army raided and patrolled the villages of al-Jalama, Deir Ghazaleh, Arranah, Arbouna and Faqua.

Raid: Tulkarem – 12:35-14:10, Israeli troops raided and patrolled Beit Lid.

Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Tulkarem – 00:25–03:05, the Israeli military raided Pharaoh village, taking prisoner one person.

Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Tulkarem – 03:30–05:30, Israeli soldiers raided the city, taking prisoner one person.

Raid: Qalqiliya – 16:50–17:50, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled Jayus.

Raid: Nablus – 11:30, Israeli forces raided and patrolled Qabalan.

Raid: Nablus – 12:00-13:20, the Israeli Army raided and patrolled the village of Awarta.

Raid: Nablus – 14:30-16:20, Israeli troops raided and patrolled Sebastia.

Raids: Nablus – 16:20, the Israeli military raided and patrolled the villages of Qusin, Yatma, al-Sawiya and al-Laban al-Sharqiya.

Raid: Nablus – 17:55-20:30, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled the village of Orif.

Raid: Nablus – 18:35–23:35, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled the village of Madama.

Raid: Nablus – 19:50-21:35, Israeli forces raided and patrolled the village of Azmout.

Raid: Nablus – 21:35, the Israeli Army raided and patrolled Jama’in.

Raid: Nablus – 01:50–04:50, Israeli troops raided and patrolled the city.

Raid – plunder: Salfit – 14:35, the Israeli military raided Qarawat Bani Hassan and seized a cement-pump.

Raid: Salfit – 17:50, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled al-Zawiya.

Raids: Salfit – 21:10, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled the villages of Iskaka and Yasuf.

Raid – stun grenades fired – injury: Salfit – 23:00, Israeli forces, firing stun grenades, raided the city, injuring a resident: Othman Hassan Othman Balasma.

Raid: Jericho – 23:25, the Israeli Army raided and patrolled al-Auja.

Raid: Bethlehem – 11:20, Israeli troops raided Za’atara.

Raid: Bethlehem – 11:40-14:10, the Israeli military raided and patrolled al-Khadr.

Raid: Bethlehem – 20:05, Israeli soldiers raided the city.

Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Bethlehem – 00:45–02:10, Israeli Occupation forces raided Beit Fajjar, taking prisoner one person.

Raid – 2 taken prisoner: Bethlehem – 01:15, Israeli forces raided Za’atara, taking prisoner two people.

Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Bethlehem – 02:10, the Israeli Army raided Tuqu, taking prisoner one person.

Raid – 3 taken prisoner: Bethlehem – 05:00, Israeli troops raided the Dheisheh refugee camp, taking prisoner three people.

Raid: Bethlehem – 05:00, the Israeli military raided and patrolled the city.

Raid: Hebron – 18:25, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled al-Samou.

Raid: Hebron – 19:15–00:20, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled the city.

Raid: Hebron – 00:20–06:15, Israeli forces raided and patrolled Idhna.

Raid: Hebron – 01:40–06:15, the Israeli Army raided and patrolled Yatta.