UN: Hundreds Killed as Gaza Communications Blackout Continues

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories:

• The shutdown of telecommunications and internet services in Gaza, which started on 14 December, continues as of midnight on 16 December. This marks the fifth blackout since 7 October. As a result, this Flash Update provides limited updated information about the humanitarian situation in Gaza over the past 24 hours.
• On 16 December, heavy Israeli bombardments from air, land, and sea across Gaza continued, with the most intense airstrikes reported in Khan Younis, in the south, and Ash Shuja’iyeh, At Tuffah and Ad Darraj areas of Gaza city. Intense ground operations and fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups continued on 16 December, especially in Khan Younis and Rafah, in southern Gaza. The firing of rockets by Palestinian armed groups into Israel continued.
• Since 14 December afternoon, the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza has not updated its casualty figures, which stood at 18,787 fatalities. About 70 per cent of those killed are said to be women and children. As of then, about 50,589 Palestinians have been injured, according to MoH. Many people are missing, presumably buried under the rubble, waiting for rescue or recovery.  According to the Israeli military, since the start of the ground operations, 119 soldiers have been killed in Gaza, and 681 have been injured.
• On 16 December, Israeli forces withdrew from Kamal Adwan hospital after four days of besieging the facility. According to initial reports by media and video footage, an Israeli military bulldozer flattened the tents of a number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) outside the hospital, killing and wounding an unconfirmed number of people. The MoH in Ramallah has called for an investigation into the incident. According to the Israeli army, it has detained 90 people, and found weapons and munitions inside the hospital.
• On the morning of 16 December, Israeli forces reportedly struck the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) building in Al Remal area of Gaza city, reportedly killing six Palestinians and injuring many others. Some 250 IDPs were reportedly sheltering in the premises at the time. Also on 16 December, in the Middle Area, Palestinians were reportedly killed in an Israeli attack hit the vicinity of UNRWA’s Al Mazra’a school.
• Since 7 October and as of 15 December, UNRWA reported that at least 288 IDPs seeking refuge in its shelters had been killed and at least 998 injured. A total of 342 school buildings have sustained damage (about 70 per cent of all school buildings in Gaza). Seventy of the schools damaged are UNRWA schools, with at least 56 serving as shelters for IDPs. Several schools, including UNRWA schools, have been directly hit by Israeli airstrikes or tank shells.
• On 16 December, a convoy operated by the World Health Organization (WHO), departing from Rafah, managed to deliver medical supplies for about 500 people in Shifa Hospital, in Gaza city. This is the third humanitarian convoy that has managed to access north Gaza since the end of the humanitarian pause on 1 December. According to the Director-General of WHO, “Gaza’s largest hospital is at the moment able to provide limited trauma stabilization and some dialysis support. Surgery is not yet possible; the hospital has no blood for transfusion, and hardly any staff to care for the constant flow of patients. The hospital needs sustained supplies of medicines, equipment, water, food, fuel, and additional human resources.”
• On 16 December, 121 trucks carrying humanitarian supplies and four tankers of fuel entered Gaza, based on initial reports as of 22:00. 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.
• On 15 December, 471 dual nationals and no injured people were evacuated from Gaza to Egypt. The total number of wounded Palestinians and other medical cases evacuated since 7 October, 500 people, represents one per cent of the reported 50,500 injury toll, while about 8,000 injured are said to require immediate medical intervention.

Hostilities and casualties (Gaza Strip)

• The following are among the deadliest incidents reported on 15 and 16 December:
  • On 16 December, during the morning, 14 people were reportedly killed when two houses were struck in Jabalia, North Gaza. Many other people are said to have remained trapped under the rubble.
  • On 15 December, at about 19:50, four people were reportedly killed and 10 others injured as a residential building was struck in Al Bureij, Middle Area.

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.
• Since 3 December, tens of thousands of IDPs, who have arrived in Rafah governorate continue to face extremely overcrowded conditions both inside and outside shelters. With an estimated fourfold increase in population density, exceeding 12,000 people per square kilometre, Rafah governorate is now the most densely populated area within the Gaza Strip.
• Obtaining an accurate figure of the total number of IDPs remains challenging. 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.
• Nearly 1.3 million of these IDPs are 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. The average number of IDPs in UNRWA shelters located in the middle and southern areas is about 12,400, more than four times their capacity.

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 16 December, the director of Al Awda hospital in northern Gaza was quoted in media, stating that medical aid had not reached the facility for the past 67 days, and that oxygen supplies and support for patients had run out. Israeli forces, including tanks, have reportedly surrounded the hospital, blocking the entrance. Additionally, two floors of the hospital have reportedly been hit in attacks, with the surgical wards destroyed, according to the hospital director.
• Currently, only eight out of 36 hospitals across 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, an airstrike hit the vicinity of Al Ahli Hospital in the east of Gaza city, causing large damage in the hospital facilities with no reported casualties.

Food security

• On 15 December, the World Food Programme (WFP), through its partners distributed 9,270 hot meals to IDPs outside shelters and with host families and food parcels to IDPs in UNRWA shelters in three locations in Rafah and Deir Al Balah.
• Between 3 and 12 December, WFP conducted a rapid food security assessment, following the significant deterioration of the food security situation in the south of Gaza, following the large influx of IDPs with the resumption of hostilities on 1 December. Very severe hunger levels were reported in 44 per cent of respondent households, compared with 24 per cent in a previous assessment conducted on 27-30 November. The proportion of IDP households reporting members going to sleep hungry at night increased from 34 to 50 per cent of all assessed households. The acute shortage of cooking gas has led to heavy dependence on firewood, wood residues, and waste burning, raising the risk of respiratory diseases. The food security situation in the northern governorates of Gaza is believed to be significantly worse.