In Occupied Palestine

Zionism in practice

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

08:00, 12 September until 08:00, 13 September 2024

[Source of statistics: Palestinian Monitoring Group]

Gaza Strip

Attacks: There are no safe places for the militarily-dominated population in Gaza, who find themselves subjected to airstrikes and other missile attacks on buildings, homes and many essentialfacilities, as well as constant gunfire and invasions by Israeli forces. The Israeli Navy continues to fire missiles, targeting facilities and buildings along the entire Gaza shoreline.

Victims: 146 more people killed in Gaza now bring the total number of deaths, since 7 October, to at least 41,118. With another 364 wounded, that figure has now risen to over 95,125. The daily average number of men, women and children killed in Gaza is at least 120 and, of those injured, more than 278.

OCHA Update #217 – Gaza Strip

Key Highlights

• Violence and obstruction continue to undermine humanitarian efforts. Israeli forces held a UN convoy at gunpoint, preventing it from fulfilling its humanitarian mission. In a separate incident, a school, and its surroundings in Nuseirat in the middle areas was hit, leading to at least 18 deaths, including aid workers. 

• Over 560,000 children aged below ten years of age were vaccinated against polio during the first round of an emergency vaccination campaign in Gaza. 

• On 12 September, the World Health Organization successfully evacuated the largest number of patients from Gaza since the escalation of hostilities in October 2023. About 12,000 patients continue to wait, unable to exit. 

• About 68 per cent of Gaza’s cropland and road network have been severely degraded by hostilities, with significant damage increases reported since July. 

Humanitarian Developments

• Israeli bombardment from the air and land continues to be reported across the Gaza Strip, resulting in further civilian casualties, displacement, and destruction of houses and other civilian infrastructure. Ground operations, particularly in Beit Hanoun, south-west Gaza city, eastern Khan Younis and Deir al Balah, and east as well as south Rafah, with heavy fighting, also continue to be reported, alongside Palestinian rocket fire at Israel. 

• Between the afternoons of 8 and 12 September, according to the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza, 146 Palestinians were killed and 364 were injured. Between 7 October 2023 and 12 September 2024, at least 41,118 Palestinians were killed and 95,125 were injured, according to MoH in Gaza. 

• The following are some of the deadly incidents reported between 8 and 11 September: 

  • On 8 September, five Palestinians were reportedly killed and at least seven others injured when a house was hit in northern An Nuseirat, in Deir al Balah. 

  • On 9 September, six Palestinians, including a baby girl, were reportedly killed and others injured when a residential building was hit in Jabalya city, in north Gaza. 

  • On 9 September, five Palestinians including three women were reportedly killed and others injured when a residential building was hit near the Jordanian Hospital in Tal Al Hawa, Gaza city. 

  • On 10 September, nine Palestinians, including six children and women were reportedly killed when a residential building was hit in Jabalya city, in northern Gaza. 

  • On 11 September, 13 Palestinians, including nine women and girls, were reportedly killed and others injured when a house was hit in Khuza’a area, in eastern Khan Younis. 

  • On 11 September, five Palestinians including two children were reportedly killed and others injured when a residential building was hit in Ash Shamaa area, in Gaza city. 

• Between the afternoons of 9 and 13 September, two Israeli soldiers were reportedly killed in a helicopter accident in Gaza, according to the Israeli military. Between 7 October 2023 and 13 September 2024, according to the Israeli military and official Israeli sources cited in the media, more than 1,542 Israelis and foreign nationals were killed, the majority on 7 October and its immediate aftermath. The figure includes 342 soldiers killed in Gaza or along the border in Israel since the beginning of the ground operation. In addition, 2,280 Israeli soldiers were reported injured since the beginning of the ground operation.

• On 10 September, Israeli airstrikes hit a makeshift site that was hosting thousands of internally displaced people. The site was in the area where the Israeli military had instructed civilians to take shelter for their safety, in Al Mawasi part of Khan Younis. People staying there had evacuated from the eastern parts of Khan Younis and Rafah. According to the UN Human Rights Office, the attack that involved weapons with wide area effects killed at least 19 civilians and 60 others were wounded. According to a Shelter Cluster assessment conducted on 11 September, 68 families comprising 413 people lost their shelters in the attack, requiring new tents and other items. The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, condemned the air strikes stressing that “the use of heavy weapons in densely populated areas is unconscionable.” The UN Human Rights Office deplored the strikes and further indicated that safety of civilians as well as food, shelter and life necessities were not ensured in the unilaterally designated zone, where people have been forced to move to over the past 11 months. 

• On 30 August, the United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) cropland damage assessment, based on satellite imagery collected in August 2024, revealed that 68 per cent of permanent crop fields in the Gaza Strip (102 out of 150 square kilometres) exhibited a significant decline in health and density compared with the average over the previous seven years. This marks a 4-percentage point increase in damaged cropland since July 2024, driven by razing, heavy vehicle activity, bombing, shelling, and other conflict-related dynamics. In Gaza Governorate, 75 per cent of cropland was observed to be damaged in August, up from 73 per cent in July, while Deir al Balah saw a five-percentage point increase in the same period. Simultaneously, a satellite-based assessment of the road network, conducted by UNOSAT on 18 August 2024, revealed that about 68 per cent of Gaza’s road network has been damaged, with 1,190 kilometre of roads destroyed, 415 kilometre severely affected, and 1,440 kilometre moderately affected. 

• Violence and obstruction continue to impede humanitarian aid workers’ ability to support those in need. “What’s happening in Gaza is totally unacceptable,” stated the Secretary-General of the UN, António Guterres after the killing at least 18 Palestinians, including six UNRWA staff members on 11 September in an Israeli airstrike on a UN school, which was sheltering about 12,000 people in An Nuseirat Refugee Camp in Deir Al Balah. According to UNRWA, this incident represents the highest death toll among its personnel in a single event since the escalation of hostilities, with the manager of the UNRWA shelter and other team members among those killed. According to UNRWA, the school has been hit five times since October 2023. 

• On 9 September, Israeli forces stopped, threatened and attacked a UN aid convoy of 12 staff members at Al Rasheed checkpoint en route to northern Gaza to support the third phase of the polio vaccination campaign. The movement had been fully coordinated with the Israeli authorities. The situation escalated quickly, with soldiers pointing their weapons directly towards the convoy personnel. Live shots were fired, and tanks and bulldozers engaged with, and damaged UN vehicles, endangering the lives of UN staff inside the vehicles. The convoy remained held at gunpoint while senior level UN officials engaged with the Israeli authorities to de-escalate the situation. Two staff were questioned, one by one, and then released. After seven and a half hours at the checkpoint, the convoy returned to base without being able to fulfil its humanitarian mission to support the polio campaign. The Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Muhannad Hadi, stated, “the United Nations and humanitarian organisations face continuous obstruction and insecurity in their efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to the devastated population in Gaza.” This incident follows at least 16 instances of UN convoys being hit since the beginning of the year. 

• The third and last phase of the polio vaccination campaign took place in northern Gaza between 10 and 12 September. More than 231 teams were deployed in the North Gaza and Gaza governorates, with a total of 112,311 children immunised in the three-day effort. The first round of the campaign has thus officially concluded across Gaza, with round two, aimed at administering the second dose of the vaccine, set to commence in four weeks’ time. Meanwhile, following the successful conclusion of the four-day vaccination efforts in south Gaza on 8 September, five health facilities are continuing to offer polio vaccines to ensure that no child is missed. As of 13 September, over 560,000 children aged below ten years of age were vaccinated against polio during the first round of an emergency vaccination campaign in Gaza. 

• In another significant development, on 12 September, the World Health Organization (WHO), jointly with partners and the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, managed to evacuate 97 critically injured and sick patients, along with 155 caretakers, from Gaza to the UAE. This was the largest single medical evacuation since October 2023. The patients comprised 45 children and 52 adults with injuries, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and other conditions. Despite severe operational challenges and insecurity, WHO and its partners were able to transfer all patients from their initial locations across the Strip to the European Gaza Hospital (EGH) in Khan Younis, where a facility was set up to gather the patients before departure. Overall, only 221 patients and their 292 caretakers have been evacuated from Gaza on five separate occasions since the closure of the Rafah crossing on 7 May. All other evacuations remain halted and an estimated 12,000 patients are still unable to exit the Strip. 

• UNFPA has warned about an alarming increase in high-risk pregnancies, birth and postpartum complications in the Gaza Strip. Beyond a marked rise in pre-term births and sexually transmitted, urinary and reproductive tract infections, other severe complications like eclampsia, sepsis and postpartum hemorrhage are being increasingly reported by health workers and Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) service providers. The number of neonatal complications and admissions to Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) has also increased. Nearly one in 10 pregnant and breastfeeding women screened by the Nutrition Cluster in June and July were found to be acutely malnourished – a condition contributing to severe anaemia, infections and delayed recovery after delivery. The lack of adequate water and sanitation services further exacerbates the risk of maternal and newborn infections. Currently, 11 hospitals and field hospitals across the Strip offer comprehensive Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (EmONC) – four in northern Gaza, two in Deir al Balah, four in Khan Younis, and one in Rafah – and seven facilities have NICUs. The Health Cluster, and the SRH Technical Working Group are endeavouring to expand EmONC services and NICUs in partially functioning hospitals and UNFPA has also established six maternal health units in Deir al Balah and Khan Younis, which are mobile and can be relocated as the situation evolves. Moreover, to alleviate the pressure on overstretched hospitals, ten primary health-care centres have been equipped to provide specialised gynaecologist services, and to address human resource shortages, qualified SRH personnel, including midwives, are being recruited, trained and deployed across the Strip. Yet, despite all efforts made, ongoing insecurity, exacerbated by repeated evacuation orders, and chronic shortages of essential medical supplies, equipment, generators and fuel continue to undermine access to and the functionality of SRH facilities.

West Bank

Israeli Army attack – 1 wounded: Ramallah – 14:10–16:00, Israeli Occupation forces, firing live ammunition, stormed the town of Silwad, wounding a resident: Muhammad Suhail Othman.

Israeli Army attack – 5 wounded – homes raided – hospital staff obstructed: Tubas – from 01:15, September 11 to 20:45, September 12, Israeli forces stormed the town of Tamoun, besiegingthe Government Hospital and obstructing the movement of ambulances and subjecting them to inspection at the entrance to the hospital. Israeli troops also invaded a number of homes, wounding five people and taking prisoner nine residents: 17–year–old Amr Saleh Yousef Bani Odeh, Thaer Jamil Muhammad Bani Odeh, Rayan Hassan Ahmad Basharat, Obada Adnan Ahmad Bani Odeh and Nihad Maazoz Salim Basharat.

Israeli Army attack – 9 wounded – hospitals raided and staff obstructed – homes destroyed: Tulkarem – from 13:45, September 11 to 17:15, September 12, the Israeli Army stormed Tulkaremas well as the Tulkarem and Nour Shams refugee camps. Troops invaded homes, using explosives to destroy four of them and severely damaged two others. Occupation forces also sieged theGovernment and Al-Israa Hospitals, as well as the Palestinian Red Crescent Centre, obstructing the movement of ambulances, interfering with working staff and taking prisoner seven people. Israeli troops also set fire to a home in the Tulkarem refugee camp and, in the Nour Shams refugee camp, used explosives to destroy the Al-Salam Mosque. They also searched a mosque in the Nour Shams refugee camp.

Home invasion and theft: Ramallah – 16:05, Israeli Occupation forces raided the village of Deir Nizam, invaded a house and seized its surveillance–camera recordings.

Home invasion: Tulkarem – 01:20–04:35, Israeli forces raided the towns of Anabta and Bal’a, invading and searching a house as well as a farm.

Home invasions: Qalqiliya – 00:15–06:15, Israeli troops raided the town of Hablat and searched three homes.

Home invasion and destruction: Bethlehem – 11:35, the Israeli Army demolished two floors of a house, in ​​the village of al-Walaja.

Home invasion and demolition: Hebron – 09:15, Israeli troops demolished a house in the Farsh al-Hawa area, north of the city.

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 population–control: Ramallah – 19:40, Israeli Occupation forces closed, for a time, the entrance to the al-Jalazoun refugee camp.

Israeli Army agricultural sabotage: Ramallah – 02:05, Israeli forces, in the village of Deir Nizam, uprooted a number of olive trees.

Israeli Army population–control: Qalqiliya – 22:00, the Israeli Army closed, for a time, the road under the Azzun Bridge.

Israeli Army – school raid with racist insults: Bethlehem – afternoon, Israeli troops raided the Dhat al-Nitaqayn Girls’ School in al-Khadr, and sprayed racist insults on the façade of one of the classrooms.

Israeli Army – land–grab for settlement benefit: Hebron – the Israeli Army issued an order, for the seizure of land in the village of Umm al-Khair, to build a wall for the Carmiel settlement.

Israeli Army – destruction and economic sabotage: Hebron – 10:30, Israeli troops demolished warehouses in Tarqumiya.

Israeli Army – population–control: Hebron – 21:20, the Israeli military closed the entrance to the Wadi al-Joz area in Bani Naim.

Israeli Army assault with rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Hebron – 22:00, Israeli soldiers, in al-Dhahiriya, fired rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades, wounding five residents.

Israeli Army – population–control: Hebron – 23:40, Israeli Occupation forces closed the Halhul town bridge to traffic in both directions.

Occupation settler plunder: Tubas – 18:25, Israeli Occupation settlers plundered property, in the al-Farisiya area of the North Jordan Valley.

Occupation settler arson and agricultural sabotage: Nablus – 16:30, Israelis, from the Rahalim Occupation settlement, invaded Yatma village land and set fire to olive trees.

Occupation settler population–control: Salfit – 01:30, stone-throwing Israeli settlers closed the road, at the eastern entrance to Yasuf.

Occupation settler stoning: Jericho – 23:20, Israeli settlers stoned passing vehicles, near the al-Auja road junction.

Occupation settler pastoral sabotage: Jericho – Israeli Occupation settlers invaded the Arab al-Maliha community in the al-Ma’arjat area, west of the city, poisoning the livestock‘s water supply,which led to the death of a number of sheep.

Occupation settler violence – pastoral sabotage: Bethlehem – 10:35, Israeli settlers invaded the Khallet al-Nahla area, near the village of Khalayel al-Loz, terrorising and pursuing a shepherd.

Occupation settler stoning: Hebron – 21:15-22:30, Israelis, from the Kiryat Arba Occupation settlement, stoned passing vehicles on the nearby Route 60.

Occupation settler agricultural sabotage and extensive vandalism: Hebron – Israeli settlers grazed their livestock on crops in the Masafer area of ​​Yatta, destroyed water–supply pipes and vandalised water–storage tanks.

Raid: Jerusalem – 10:10-11:40, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled al-Ram.

Raid – refugee camp: Ramallah – 19:35-21:55, Israeli forces raided and patrolled the al-Jalazoun refugee camp.

Raid: Ramallah – 19:55-21:55, the Israeli Army raided and patrolled the village of Dura al-Qar’.

Raid: Ramallah – 22:00–07:00, Israeli troops raided and patrolled the village of Yabrud.

Raid: Ramallah – 23:55, the Israeli military raided and patrolled the village of Shuqba.

Raids: Ramallah – 00:40, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled the villages of Deir Abu Mash’al, Budrus and al-Midya.

Raid: Ramallah – 05:10–07:00, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled Beitunya.

Raids: Jenin – 20:35–22:20, Israeli forces raided and patrolled the villages of Zububa, Rumana and Ti’inik.

Raid: Jenin – 22:35–01:00, the Israeli Army raided the village of al-Fanduqumiya.

Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Tulkarem – dawn, Israeli troops raided the village of Farun, taking prisoner one person.

Raid: Tulkarem – 18:50-20:20, the Israeli military raided and patrolled the town of Quffin.

Raid – 1 taken prisoner in refugee camp: Tulkarem – 03:30–04:35, Israeli soldiers raided the Nour Shams refugee camp, taking prisoner one person.

Raid: Qalqiliya – 12:40–14:10, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled the city.

Raid: Qalqiliya – 19:10-midnight, Israeli forces raided and patrolled the town of Jayus.

Raid: Qalqiliya – 19:10-20:20, the Israeli Army raided and patrolled the village of Jinsafut.

Raid: Qalqiliya – 00:35–07:20, Israeli troops raided and patrolled the town of Azzun.

Raids: Nablus – 08:00–09:30, the Israeli military raided and patrolled the town of Qusra as well as the village of Jurish.

Raid: Nablus – 16:05-17:00, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled the village of Burin.

Raid: Nablus – 17:25-18:10, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled the village of al-Lubban al-Sharqiya.

Raid: Nablus – 18:10-21:20, Israeli forces raided and patrolled the village of Osirin.

Raid: Nablus – 19:20–07:10, the Israeli Army raided and patrolled the town of Attil.

Raids: Nablus – 02:35, Israeli troops raided and patrolled the town of Jama’in as well as the village of Zeita.

Raid – 2 taken prisoner: Nablus – 04:35–06:25, the Israeli military raided the city, taking prisoner two people.

Raids: Nablus – 07:05, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled the villages of Burin and Madama.

Raid: Salfit – 08:20-09:40, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled the village of Yasuf.

Raid: Salfit – 10:15-11:30, Israeli forces raided the town of Bidya and invaded a shop.

Raid – destruction – population–control: Salfit – 10:55-13:00, the Israeli Army raided the town of Deir Ballut and demolished a house-under-construction.

Raid: Salfit – 11:35-12:30, Israeli troops raided the town of Qarawat Bani Hassan and invaded a shop.

Raid: Bethlehem – 17:15, the Israeli military raided and patrolled the village of Harmalah.

Raid: Bethlehem – 20:30–03:20, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled the town of al-Khadr.

Raid: Bethlehem – 21:05–22:30, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled the village of Husan.

Raids – in refugee camps: Bethlehem – 22:30–00:25, Israeli forces raided and patrolled the Aida as well as al-Azza refugee camps.

Raid – abduction: Bethlehem – 03:20–06:00, the Israeli Army raided Beit Fajjar and abducted a 14-year-old boy: Muhammad Walid Issa Taqatqa.

Raid: Hebron – 09:05-11:00, Israeli troops raided and patrolled the Hanina area in Dura.

Raid – 5 injured: Hebron – 15:00–01:25, the Israeli military raided and patrolled al-Dhahiriya, injuring five residents.

Raid – explosives – destruction: Hebron – 18:00-20:35, Israeli soldiers raided the towns of Yatta and al-Karmil and used explosives to destroy a cave-dwelling in the town of al-Karmil.

Raid: Hebron – 01:25, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled the town of Idhna.

Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Hebron – 01:30, Israeli forces raided the town of Bat Awa, taking prisoner one person.