In Occupied Palestine

Zionism in practice

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

08:00, on 14 January until 08:00, 15 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:

132 people killed in Gaza brings the total number of deaths since 7 October to at least 24,100. With another 252 wounded, that has risen to 60,834. Fully accurate statistics are not available due to insecurity menacing hospitals in the Gaza Strip.

OCHA Flash Update #93

On 15 January, the Secretary-General stated: “The long shadow of starvation is stalking the people of Gaza – along with disease, malnutrition and other health threats. I am deeply troubled by the clear violation of international humanitarian law that we are witnessing… An effective aid operation in Gaza – or anywhere else — requires certain basics. It requires security. It requires an environment where staff can work in safety. It requires the necessary logistics and the resumption of commercial activity.”

In the first two weeks of January, only 24 per cent (7 out of 29) of planned missions to deliver food, medicine, water and other lifesaving supplies successfully reached their destinations north of Wadi Gaza. Most of the denials involved the delivery of fuel and medicines north of Wadi Gaza. Around 95 per cent (18 of 19) of missions involving the allocation of fuel and medicines to water reservoirs, water wells and health facilities in the north of Wadi Gaza have been denied access by Israeli authorities. Lack of fuel for water, sanitation and hygiene increases risks of health and environmental hazards. Lack of medicine debilitated the functionality of the six partially functioning hospitals. The missions that were not able to proceed include: five planned missions to the Central Drug Store, four planned missions to Jabalia Health Centre, and eight planned missions to four critical reservoirs and water and waste pumps.

As of 15 January, only one of the three water pipelines from Israel is currently functioning. The Middle Area water pipleine, with a production capacity of close to 17,000 cubic metres of water per day), urgently needs repairs. Water, hygiene, and sanitation (WASH) partners have estimated that this could take up to four weeks with sustained access and the necessary supplies.

On 15 January, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that the Nasser Medical Complex cared for 700 patients, double its normal capacity, requiring patients to receive treatment on the floor. The hospital continues to receive high volume of trauma and burn cases while the ICU and burn unit are severely understaffed, delaying lifesaving treatment. About 7,000 people are reportedly sheltering on the hospital grounds. The intensification of hostilities in the vicinity of the hospital are obstructing access for patients and health workers, endangering their lives and further eroding hospital functionality.

On 15 January, the heads of the WFP, UNICEF and WHO released a joint statement urging the opening of new entry routes, allowing more commodity-border checks each day, easing restrictions on the movement of humanitarian workers and to guaranteeing the safety of people accessing and distributing aid. Humanitarian assistance in Gaza is limited by the closure of all but two border crossings in the south (Rafah and Kerem Shalom) and multi-layered vetting process for commodities transported into Gaza.

On 15 January, WFP Executive Director, said that “people in Gaza risk dying of hunger just miles from trucks filled with food. Every hour lost puts countless lives at risk. We can keep famine at bay but only if we can deliver sufficient supplies and have safe access to everyone in need, wherever they are.” The latest Integrated Food Security and Nutrition Phase Classification report confirm that the entire population of Gaza, 2.2 million people, are in crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity.

On 15 January, UNICEF Executive Director, said that “children at high risk of dying from malnutrition and disease desperately need medical treatment, clean water, and sanitation services, but the conditions on the ground do not allow us to safely reach children and families in need. Some of the material we desperately need to repair and increase water supply remain restricted from entering Gaza. The lives of children and their families are hanging in the balance. Every minute counts.” UNICEF projects that child wasting, the most life-threatening form of malnutrition, could affect 10,000 children in the next few weeks. Additionally, UNICEF has warned that children in southern Gaza are accessing only 1.5 to 2 litres of water per day, well below the recommended requirements for survival. According to humanitarian standards, the minimum amount of water needed in an emergency is 15 litres, which includes water for drinking, washing, and cooking. For survival alone, the estimated minimum is 3 litres per day.

Health care, including attacks (Gaza Strip)

According to WHO, 15 out of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are partially functional; nine in the south and six in the north. In Deir al Balah and Khan Younis, three hospitals – Al Aqsa, Nasser, and Gaza European – are at risk of closure due to the issuance of evacuation orders in adjacent areas and the ongoing conduct of hostilities nearby. Hospitals in the north have been offering limited maternity, trauma, and emergency care services. However, they face challenges such as a shortage of medical staff, including specialized surgeons, neurosurgeons, and intensive care staff, as well as a lack of medical supplies, and have an urgent need for fuel, food, and drinking water. The nine partially functional hospitals in the south 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 reaching 206 per cent in inpatient departments and 250 per cent in intensive care units.

On 13 January, WHO, UNFPA and OCHA visited Al Aqsa hospital and Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis to assess the needs due to ongoing hostilities and evacuations orders in the neighbourhoods surrounding the two hospitals. Since the withdrawal of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Medical Aid Palestine and the International Rescue Commitee (IRC) from the Al Aqsa hospital on 6 and 7 January, only 12 health workers remain, including two doctors, representing 10 per cent of the total hospital workforce pre-crisis. About 140 patients are at the hospital, while 1,500 IDPs are sheltering there. UNRWA has provided over 24,000 litres of fuel to sustain emergency services but much more is needed. WHO is planning to facilitate the deployment of an emergency medical team to support surgeries and the emergency department.

WHO and health partners have been supporting the health system in Gaza with the delivery of medical equipment and supplies, medicines, fuel for hospitals, coordination of emergency medical teams and disease surveillance through over a dozen high-risk missions to hospitals in northern and southern Gaza. WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a joint statement with WFP and UNICEF on 15 January that “we need unimpeded, safe access to deliver aid and a humanitarian ceasefire to prevent further death and suffering.”

On 14 January 2024, Dr. Ghebreyesus stated that only 15 facilities are currently providing limited health care in the strip as a result of “300 attacks on health and continuous lack of safe access to critical aid… WHO, UN and partners (are) repeatedly stymied from providing the aid so critically needed… while patients facing avoidable amputations due to the health system’s destruction. Those with serious chronic conditions are dying due to the lack of care. People in Gaza are living in hell. Nowhere is safe. Everything must be done to end the violence to prevent more needless death and injury.”

Violence and casualties (West Bank)

On 14 January, Israeli forces shot and killed two Palestinian men driving along agricultural land near Sa’ir village (Hebron). Reportedly, Israeli forces fired shots in their direction, and they attempted to flee, after which they were shot and killed.

On 15 January, Israeli forces shot and killed two Palestinians, including a man and a woman, and injured nine others, in Dura village in Hebron during confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli forces while the latter conducted a search-and-arrest operation in the village.

Also on 15 January, Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian man at the Israeli-controlled checkpoint of Enav, close to Tulkarm city. According to Israeli sources, the man attempted to escape arrest and was shot. The details of the incident are still being verified.

On 15 January, according to Israeli media and medical sources, two Palestinian men initiated an attack, where an elderly Israeli woman was stabbed and killed, in Ra’anana, Israel. Furthermore, at least one vehicle was hijacked by the two men and rammed into Israeli pedestrians, injuring thirteen. Israeli forces announced that they had arrested the two suspects, who are from Bani Na’im village in Hebron.

From 7 October 2023 and as of 15 January 2024, 344 Palestinians have been killed, including 88 children, across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Additionally, two Palestinians from the West Bank were killed while carrying out an attack in Israel on 30 November. Of those killed in the West Bank (344), 335 were killed by Israeli forces, eight by Israeli settlers and one by either Israeli forces or settlers. So far in 2024 (as of 15 January), 35 Palestinians, including seven children, have been killed. The number of Palestinians killed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in 2023 (507) marks the highest number of Palestinians killed in the West Bank since OCHA started recording casualties in 2005.

From 7 October 2023 and as of 15 January 2024, five Israelis, including four members of Israeli forces, have been killed in Palestinian attacks in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Four Israelis were killed in an attack carried out by Palestinians from the West Bank in West Jerusalem (one of the four was killed by Israeli forces who misidentified him) on 30 November 2023; another Israeli woman was killed in another Palestinian attack in Israel on 15 January 2024. The number of Israelis killed (36) in the West Bank and Israel in 2023 in attacks perpetrated by Palestinians from the West Bank was the highest since OCHA started recording casualties in 2005.

From 7 October 2023 and as of 15 January 2024, 4,212 Palestinians, including 637 children, were injured in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Of them, 4,082 have been injured by Israeli forces, 109 by settlers and 21 by either Israeli forces or settlers. Of the total injuries, 53 per cent were reported in the context of search-and-arrest and other operations, 35 per cent in demonstrations and 8 per cent during settler attacks against Palestinians. Some 33 per cent of those injuries have been caused by live ammunition, compared with 9 per cent in the first nine months of 2023

Settler Violence

Since 7 October 2023 and as of 15 January 2024, OCHA recorded 421 Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians, resulting in Palestinian casualties (41 incidents), damage to Palestinian-owned property (329 incidents), or both casualties and damage to property (51 incidents). This reflects a daily average of four incidents since 7 October 2023 until 15 January 2024.

One-third of the settler attacks against Palestinians after 7 October 2023 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)

From 7 October 2023 and as of 15 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).

On 15 January, the Israeli authorities demolished two houses and an extension to one of the houses used as a barber shop in Qalqiliya city, displacing 12 people, including six children. This raises to 465 the number of Palestinians, including 233 children, displaced between 7 October 2023 and 15 January 2024, 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.

A total of 19 homes have been demolished and 95 Palestinians, including 42 children, displaced due to punitive demolitions from 7 October 2023 and as of 15 January 2024. The numbers exceed those reported in the first nine months of the same year, during which 16 homes were punitively demolished and 78 people displaced.

From 7 October 2023 and as of 15 January 2024, 602 Palestinians, including 263 children, have been displaced, following the destruction of 94 homes during other operations carried out by Israeli forces across the West Bank. About 94 per cent of the displacement was reported in the refugee camps of Jenin, and in Nur Shams and Tulkarm, both in Tulkarm. This represents 65 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 – 2 youngsters shot dead: Ramallah – 20:30, Israeli Occupation forces opened fire on a vehicle carrying two youngsters, Khaled Amer Hamidat (aged 16) and Suleiman Muhammad Suleiman Kanaan (aged 17), on the road to the al-Jalazoun refugee camp, killing them both.

Israeli Army attack – 1 wounded – 25 taken prisoner: Nablus – 02:25–05:10, Israeli forces stormed the An-Najah National University in the city, wounding one person, Misbah Ziad Bita, and taking prisoner 25 students.

Israeli Army attack – shepherd wounded – pastoral sabotage: Jericho – 13:10, the Israeli Army opened fire on and wounded a shepherd, Khaled Youssef Ahmed Jahalin, in the Khan al-Ahmar area, west of Jericho.

Israeli Army attack – 1 youngster killed, another abducted: Jericho – 14:30, Israeli troops stormed the Ein Sultan refugee camp, killing a 16-year-old youth: Louay Majed Al-Sufi. The Israeli Army also abducted another 16-year-old, Maher Suleiman Ali Abu Dahuk, as well as taking prisoner one other person.

Israeli Army attack – 2 killed: Hebron – 14:05, the Israeli military, east of Sa’ir, shot and killed two people: Ahmed Musa Muhammad Jabareen and Jalal Issa Muhammad Jaborine.

Israeli Army attack – 1 wounded: Hebron – 15:25, Israeli soldiers, firing live ammunition, stormed the village of Deir Samit, wounding a resident: Jabara Nasser Muhammad Al-Hroub.

Home invasion: Jerusalem – 23:30, Israeli Occupation forces raided al-Eizariya and searched a house.

Home invasion – 1 child abducted and his father taken prisoner: Ramallah – 00:15, Israeli Occupation forces raided the village of Beitin and abducted a 16-year-old youth, Ibrahim Jarabaa, as well as taking his father prisoner.

Home invasions: Ramallah – dawn, Israeli forces raided Beit Rima and invaded a number of homes.

Home invasions and armed robbery: Ramallah – dawn, the Israeli Army raided Kobar, invading homes and stealing cash from the houses of the wives of two men being held prisoner by Israel.

Homes invaded and demolished– 1 wounded: Qalqiliya – 00:15–04:55, raiding Israeli troops, firing rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades, wounded a man and demolished two homes.

Home invasion: Hebron – 06:40, the Israeli military raided Yatta and searched a house.

Occupation settler violence – arson: Nablus – 00:15, Israeli Occupation settlers attacked a home, on the outskirts of Burin village, and set fire to the householder’s motor vehicle.

Raid: Ramallah – 04:30, Israeli forces raided the al-Jalazoun refugee camp, taking prisoner one person.

Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Ramallah – dawn, the Israeli Army raided the village of Jaffna, taking prisoner one person.

Raid: Jenin – 10:05-15:25, Israeli troops raided and patrolled Ya’bad.

Raid – 5 taken prisoner: Jenin – 04:05–06:10, the Israeli military raided Zababdeh, taking prisoner five people.

Raid – 2 taken prisoner in school – surveillance and population–control: Qalqiliya – 14:55, Israeli soldiers raided Azzun, invading as well as searching the Azzun Boys’ Secondary School. Two people were taken prisoner and the school’s surveillance–camera recordings seized.

Raid – refugee camp: Jericho – midnight-02:00, Israeli troops raided and patrolled the Ein Sultan refugee camp.

Raid – beating-up – population control: Bethlehem – 16:40, the Israeli military raided Nahalin, forced the shops to close and then beat-up a resident: Hassan Maher Hassan Abu Nassar.

Raid – rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades fired in refugee camp: Bethlehem – 02:00–04:15, Israeli soldiers, firing rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades, raided and patrolled Bethlehem as well as the Dheisheh refugee camp.

Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Hebron – 02:50–07:45, Israeli Occupation forces raided Dura, taking prisoner one person.

Raid – 11 taken prisoner: Hebron – 04:00, Israeli forces raided Beit Awa, taking prisoner eleven people.

Raid – 3 abducted – 1 taken prisoner: Hebron – dawn, the Israeli Army raided Idhna, taking prisoner one man and three of his children.

Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Hebron – dawn, Israeli troops raided Yatta, taking prisoner one person.