On 14 December, heavy Israeli bombardments from air, land, and sea across Gaza continued, especially in Jabalya, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip. Between the afternoons of 13 and 14 December, at least 179 Palestinians were killed and another 303 were injured, according to the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza. Overall, according to MoH, between 7 October and 14 December afternoon, at least 18,787 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza. About 70 per cent are said to be women and children, and about 50,5897 were reportedly injured. Many people are missing, presumably buried under the rubble, waiting for rescue or recovery.
Additionally, intense ground operations and fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups continued, especially in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza. According to the Israeli military, one Israeli soldier was killed in Gaza on 14 December, bringing the total number of Israeli soldiers who have been killed in Gaza since the start of the ground operations to 116, with 648 injured, according to the Israeli military. The firing of rockets by Palestinian armed groups into Israel has also continued.
On 14 December, for the third consecutive day, Israeli troops, accompanied by tanks, raided Kamal Adwan Hospital, in Beit Lahiya, north of Gaza city, with reports of Palestinians being subjected to mass arrests and ill-treatment. The MoH in Gaza claimed that Israeli troops forced all the 2,500 internally displaced persons (IDPs) taking refuge inside the hospitals to leave, and evacuated the remaining wounded people and medical staff to the hospital grounds. The MoH also claims that the Israeli military prevented medical staff from providing support to 12 babies in intensive care and to ten injured people in the emergency department, leading to the death of two patients.
On 13 December, following the release of some of the detainees, Israeli forces allegedly shot and injured five people while they were on their way back to the hospital. Over 70 medical staff, including the director of the hospital, remain detained at an unknown location. According to the Israeli military, tens of Hamas operatives have been detained in this operation. That day, the World Health Organization (WHO) expressed its concern about the raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital. According to the MoH in Gaza, there are 65 patients including several needing intensive care, and 45 medical staff in the hospital. The hospital was already only minimally functional due to acute shortages of fuel, water, food and medical supplies even before the hospital was sieged. WHO called for the protection of all people inside the hospital.
On 14 December, as of 22:00, there are initial reports that at least 100 trucks carrying humanitarian supplies and four tankers of fuel have entered the Gaza Strip. This is well below the daily average of 500 truckloads (including fuel and private sector goods) that entered every working day prior to 7 October. At a press conference on 14 December, UNRWA Commissioner-General, Philippe Lazzarini, declared: “What we need today is not just 100 trucks, or 200 trucks. We need meaningful, at scale, uninterrupted and unconditional flow of basic commodities into the Gaza Strip.” The Humanitarian Coordinator Lynn Hasting has said that the Israeli authorities “need to ensure that the conditions inside of Gaza are also such that we will be able to provide assistance to everybody who is in need.”
On 14 December, there were no reports of injured or dual nationals evacuating Gaza to Egypt. The total number of wounded Palestinians and other medical cases evacuated since October 7 represents one per cent of the reported injury toll. This corresponds to slightly over 400 people, while an additional 8,000 of the estimated 40,000 injured are said to require immediate medical intervention.
On 14 December at about 17:45, the main Palestinian telecommunication group in Gaza announced that all services had been cut; the shutdown of communications is having severe impact on the ability of emergency services and humanitarian partners to reach the vulnerable.
On 14 December 2023, in the West Bank, Israeli forces withdrew from Jenin City and Jenin refugee camp, after a large-scale operation, during which they had imposed a curfew for about 60 hours. Over this period, eleven Palestinians, including three children, were killed and dozens injured by Israeli force. An additional fatality was a boy who died while being impeded from accessing a hospital in an unrelated medical emergency. Of the eleven fatalities, one was a boy who, according to eyewitness accounts by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and the MoH in the West Bank, was shot by Israeli forces within the Khalil Suliman hospital compound. Two of the overall fatalities in Jenin, including the aforementioned boy who was impeded from reaching a hospital, died while Israeli forces surrounded the Jenin Governmental Hospital and impeded their access.
The military operation in Jenin involved air and ground strikes, and exchange of fire with Palestinians. The operation also resulted in the displacement of people and severe infrastructure damage, including to roads, especially in the refugee camp. Hundreds of Palestinians were arrested, including some who were released outside of the city after having been interrogated; they were not allowed to return to Jenin and were forced to take shelter in nearby communities.
Hostilities and casualties (Gaza Strip)
- The following are among the deadliest incidents reported between 14:00 on 13 and 14 December:
- On 13 December, at about 18:20, at least 27 Palestinians were reportedly killed and at least ten others were injured when two residential buildings were hit in Ash Shabora area of Rafah, southern Gaza.
- On 13 December, at about 22:00, at least 26 Palestinians were reportedly killed when a house was struck in Ad Daraj neighbourhood of Gaza city. The bodies were reportedly extracted from the rubble.
- On 13 December, at about 21:00, a school that was being used as a shelter by IDPs, was struck in Ash Sheikh Radwan in Gaza city. Six Palestinians were reportedly killed, and tens were injured. UNRWA reports that, since 7 October, 222 IDPs sheltering in UNRWA premises have been killed and 911 injured. A total of 342 school buildings have sustained damage (over 69% of all school buildings in Gaza). Of the 70 UNRWA-damaged schools, at least 56 serve as shelters for IDPs. Several schools, including UNRWA schools, have been directly hit by Israeli strikes or tank shells.
- On 13 December, at about 12:30, an Israeli military drone reportedly killed a Palestinian girl in an UNRWA school sheltering IDPs in Ad Dahra area, western Khan Yunis. According to Ministry of Education (MoE), as of 5 December, more than 3,477 students and 203 educational staff have been killed. MoE further notes that more than 5,429 students and 507 teachers have been injured in the Gaza Strip since 7 October.
Displacement (Gaza Strip)
- Areas encompassing nearly 30 per cent of the Gaza Strip (excluding the orders to evacuate the areas north of Wadi Gaza) have been marked for evacuation on the Israeli military’s online map that was launched on 1 December. Access to this information is impaired by recurrent interruptions in telecommunications and the lack of electricity.
- Obtaining an accurate total of the displaced remains challenging, but as of 12 December, according to UNRWA, almost 1.9 million people in Gaza, or nearly 85 per cent of the population, are estimated to be internally displaced, including people who have been displaced multiple times. As of 13 December, nearly 1.3 million of these IDPs were registered in 155 UNRWA facilities across Gaza, including more than 1.2 million in 98 UNRWA shelters in the Middle Area, Khan Younis and Rafah. governorates. Tens of thousands of IDPs, who have arrived in Rafah since 3 December, continue to face extremely overcrowded conditions both inside and outside shelters. Without enough latrines, open-air defecation is prevalent, increasing concerns of further spread of disease, particularly during winter weather.
Electricity
- Since 11 October, 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. For more information on electricity supply to the Gaza strip, please see this dashboard.
Health care, including attacks (Gaza Strip)
- On 14 December, WHO announced that it had delivered 4,200 body bags with support from the Contingency Fund for Emergencies (CFE), underscoring the critical need to safeguard civilians from the risk of infection.
- For the ninth consecutive day, Al Awda Hospital, Jabaliya (northern Gaza), remains surrounded by Israeli troops and tanks, and fighting with armed Palestinian groups is reported in its vicinity. Reportedly, 250 doctors, patients, and their family members are trapped inside the hospital. On 9 December, two medical staff were reportedly killed while on duty inside the hospital, during clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups.
- Currently, only 11 out of 36 hospitals in the Gaza Strip are functional and able to admit new patients, although services are limited. Only one of these hospitals is in the north, according to WHO. The two major hospitals in southern Gaza are operating at three times their bed capacity, while facing critical shortages of basic supplies and fuel. According to the MoH in Gaza, occupancy rates are now reaching 206 per cent in inpatient departments and 250 per cent in intensive care units. Additionally, these hospitals are providing shelter to thousands of IDPs.
- On 14 December, Jabalya Health Centre was reportedly hit, with severe damage caused to the centre and the vicinity. No casualties have been reported.
- There have been significant increases or increased risk of outbreak in some communicable diseases and conditions such as diarrhea, influenza, chicken pox, meningitis, jaundice, impetigo acute respiratory infections, skin infections and hygiene-related conditions like lice and scabies. The heavy rains and flooding which affected large parts of Gaza on 13 December compounded human misery and added to the risk of waterborne diseases.
Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH)
- On 13 December, WASH partners reported an urgent need for pipes and construction material. Stockpiles of material for the repairing of pipe systems are running low, and many of the pipe systems have been damaged and need of repair. Inability to provide repairs could result in water being cut off from certain areas.
- On 13 December, heavy rains fell on Gaza, flooding multiple areas, worsening the living conditions of IDPs amid lack, or limited capacity, to manage sewage, particularly in IDP shelters, and the accumulation of solid waste in various locations.
- Due to the lack or limited capacity of latrines especially in IDP shelters, people are adopting unhealthy coping mechanisms, such as open defecation. In shelters, people wait for hours to access toilets, and in some other locations where IDPs are located, no toilets are available at all. Children reportedly defecate in the open, while adults resort to buckets and dispose of the waste in improvised areas or solid waste dumps.
- In many locations, solid waste is piling up with no effective waste management mechanism for collection or disposal. Reportedly, rats and insects, including mosquitos, congregate in these areas, contributing to the risk of spreading disease.
