Hostilities in the Gaza Strip and Israel | Flash Update #11
17 Oct 2023
GAZA HUMANITARIAN OVERVIEW
Hostilities and casualties
Israeli airstrikes and shelling continued. Among the deadliest attacks recorded today (17 October) were airstrikes on residential buildings in Rafah city (at least 28 fatalities); in Khan Yunis (40 fatalities) and in the Emirati neighbourhood of Khan Yunis (21 fatalities). The fatalities included people moving southward in compliance with the Israeli military order to evacuate the northern Gaza Strip.
This afternoon (17 October), an UNRWA school in Al Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza, sheltering some 4,000 IDPs, was hit during an Israeli airstrike, with at least six people killed and dozens injured, including UNRWA staff. UNRWA has been providing the coordinates of its facilities to relevant parties on a daily basis.
Since the start of hostilities, 3,000 Palestinians have been killed and 12,500 have been injured (excluding Al Ahli hospital casualties). The fatality toll in Gaza during the 11 days of hostilities has already surpassed the total number of fatalities during the 2014 escalation, which lasted for over 50 days (2,251 Palestinian fatalities). According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, as of 16 October at 18:00, 47 entire families have been killed, amounting to about 500 people.
Additionally, it is estimated that hundreds of people are still trapped beneath the rubble awaiting rescue, or recovery. The decomposition of bodies under collapsed buildings is an increasing humanitarian and environmental concern.
Rescue teams, primarily from the Palestinian Civil Defense, are struggling to carry out their mission, amid continuous airstrikes, severe shortage of fuel to run vehicles and equipment, and with limited or no connection to mobile networks.
As of 21:00, 17 October, no new Israeli fatalities have been reported. According to official Israeli sources, at least 1,300 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed in Israel, and at least 4,229 have been injured, the vast majority on 7 October. The fatality toll is over three-fold the cumulative number of Israelis killed since OCHA began recording casualties in 2005 (nearly 400).
According to the Gaza Ministry of Public Works, as of 14 October, 8,840 housing units had been destroyed and 5,434 housing units had been damaged and rendered uninhabitable.
Prior to today's attack on Al Ahli hospital, WHO had documented 57 attacks on health care, resulting in 16 fatalities of health care workers and 28 injuries, damage to 26 hospitals and other healthcare facilities, including 17 hospitals and 23 ambulances. Four of the latter, all in northern Gaza (Beit Hanoun, Hamad Rehabilitation, Al Karama, and Ad Dura) had to be evacuated and are no longer operational.
The scope of damage sustained by education and other civilian infrastructure as a result of bombardments is also of increasing concern. As of 16 October, 167 educational facilities have been hit by airstrikes, including at least 20 UNRWA schools, two of which were used as emergency shelters for IDPs, and 140 Palestinian Authority (PA) schools, one of which was destroyed. One university building and seven churches were damaged, and at least eleven mosques were destroyed.
Water and sanitation facilities have also been severely damaged. As of 12 October, at least six water wells, three water pumping stations, one water reservoir, and one desalination plant serving over 1,100,000 people were damaged.
Hundreds of fatalities in Al Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza were reported as this Flash Update was being finalized (22:00). The compound hosted patients and internally displaced persons (IDPs) seeking safe shelter.
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