Urgent Health Update: Consequences of war on Gaza-May 19, 2024

Israeli bombardment from the air, land, & sea continues to be reported across much of the Gaza Strip, resulting in further civilian casualties, displacement, & destruction of houses & other civilian infrastructure. Ground incursions & heavy fighting also continue to be reported, especially in Jabalya & eastern Rafah. Rafah Crossing remains closed. Kerem Shalom Crossing is barely operational if at all.  

A note on the numbers:

Casualty numbers have been provided by the Ministry of Health or the Government Media Office (GMO) in Gaza & the Israeli authorities. Previous data breakdowns provided in this snapshot of women & children killed were attributed to the GMO based on reported fatalities. The fatality breakdowns currently cited are those that the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza has recently fully identified out of the higher number of casualties they report.

PUBLICATIONS

Embodying Homeland: Palestinian Grief and the Perseverance of Beauty in a Time of Genocide, Devin G. Atallah & Hisham Awartani Published online: 07 May 2024 https://doi.org/10.1080/0377919X.2024.2344419

“The authors theorize that Israel’s genocide of Palestinians teaches us that a central focus of colonialism is not simply to annex Native land & accumulate resources, but to also transmit anguish and grief into the bodies of the colonized & onto the landscape. Through an ongoing dialogue interwoven throughout the essay, the authors share their reflections on grief as holding liberatory potential in the face of the colonial weaponization of loss, conveying how they have come to understand Palestinian grief as a critical enactment of decolonial love in what they call the “perseverance of beauty.”

INTERVIEWS

Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan, a pediatric intensive care physician who works with Médecins Sans Frontières & co-founded @GazaMedicVoices, has emerged as one of the most prominent voices raising the alarm about the hell Israel has created for Gaza’s healthcare workers. She has also, before & since October, volunteered as a doctor in Gaza. Interview.

GAZA

·       Killed: 35,303 (UN reduced the number of women & children believed to have been killed in the war by nearly half. The number was reduced because the UN says it is now relying on the number of deceased women & children whose names & other identifying details have been fully documented, rather than the total number of women & children killed. The ministry says bodies that arrive at hospitals get counted in the overall death count.)

·       Injured: 79,261 (“I have been working in orthopedics for around 21 years. The kind of injuries, the severity of the injuries, the types of bone loss, and the kind of infections we faced with the Gaza patients are beyond (anything) I’ve seen before,” says Dr. Hasan Abuhejleh, consultant orthopedic surgeon at Hamad Hospital.)

·       Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza: 279

·       Israeli soldiers injured in Gaza: 1,723

·       Hostages in Gaza: ~132

·       262 aid workers killed, including 193 UN staff, 27 PRCS staff and volunteers, 42 other aid workers. Israeli authorities did not issue advance warnings to any of the aid organizations before the strikes, which killed or injured at least 31 aid workers & those with them. 

·       493 health workers killed, at least 15 also counted under aid workers

·       69 civil defense staff killed

·       147 journalists and media workers killed

·       15 hospitals partially functional

·       21 hospitals out of service

·       8 functional field hospitals

·       According to Health Cluster, as of 5/15, Indonesian field Hospital in Rafah is now out of service. Field hospitals include a one that was newly established by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in coordination with the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) to help address the “overwhelming” scale of medical needs in Rafah. The 60-bed facility, which has mass casualty management & triage capacities, will be able to provide emergency surgical care, obstetric, maternal, newborn & pediatric care, as well as outpatient services. Referring to the increasingly dire health situation in Gaza, the ICRC warned that patients with serious & chronic illnesses, including diabetes, pneumonia or other infectious & non-communicable diseases, are not receiving the attention they need as overstretched doctors & nurses must constantly prioritize the treatment of the critically wounded.

·       71% of primary health care centers not functional

·       155 health facilities damaged

·       171 UNRWA installations damaged

·       130 ambulances damaged

·       >760,000 cases of acute respiratory infections

·       >410,000 cases of acute water diarrhea

·       Fuel shortages are threatening the continuity of health services & limited access to WASH facilities continues to drive a rise in infectious diseases (WHO).

·       18 emergency teams deployed

·       25% of UNRWA health centers operational

·       Rising shortages of essential medical supplies, fuel rationing necessary, interruption of fuel entry “threatens the complete collapse of the healthcare system, and shutdown of the remaining hospitals if fuel is not provided for power generators, ambulances, water desalination stations, & sewage networks.”  (PRCS)

·       ~31% of children < 2 years old in northern Gaza: acute malnutrition

·       ~10% of children <2 years old in Rafah: acute malnutrition

·       ~>50,000 children acutely malnourished

·       5 bakeries operational, 11 ceased

·       ~73% of school buildings directly hit or damaged

·       1.1 million people facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity

·       3 water pipelines from Israel partially operational

·       83% of groundwater wells not operating

·       2 of 3 main water desalination plants partially functional

·       57% of WASH facilities damage or destroyed

·       ~270,000 tons of accumulated solid waste

·       “Israeli attacks since October caused at least $210 million worth of damage to Gaza’s water & sanitation infrastructure.” (Oxfam)

·       Incoming aid trucks: (500 per day in 2023) May 10: 1, May 11: 6, May 12 to 14: 0, May 15: 27

·       Influx of IDPs into Khan Younis & Deir al Balah with dwindling resources, between 5/6-16: 640,000 people

·       No shelter stocks remain

·       “In the north, vital wells have suffered great damage, while in Rafah <8 facilities are down, impacting…  people, many of them children who will likely revert to contaminated water & become seriously ill. When water fails, children suffer the most.” In addition to inadequate infrastructure, “civilians – already exhausted, malnourished, & facing numerous traumatic events – are now facing increased death, injury, & displacement among the ruins of their communities. The very humanitarian operations that became the only lifeline for the whole population across the Strip are threatened.” (UNICEF)

·       5/17 first shipments from floating dock

·       3,000 metric tons of food remain in inaccessible warehouses, few trucks have entered via Kerem Shalom & Erez

·       5/11 WFP-supported distributions of special nutritional foods to pregnant and breastfeeding women & children <5 have also been suspended in Rafah but continued on a limited basis in Khan Younis & Deir al Balah.

·       UN demands full investigation after UN aid worker was killed & another injured when their clearly marked vehicle was attacked in Rafah as they traveled to the European Hospital.

·       Inside Rafah’s European Hospital, over 20 US medical volunteers were trapped after Israel sealed off the Rafah border crossing last week. Like many Gazans, the US medical workers were now facing dehydration and other deadly health conditions. 17 left on 5/17, 3 chose to stay with their patients.

·       Israeli bombs came down on Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza overnight, landing on a house & UNRWA school housing displaced people. >14 people were killed, including children. Survivors desperately searched through the rubble for signs of life.

·       Facing an acute shortage of firewood & other fuel, people have resorted to burning things that are precious to them. Knowledge is literally going up in smoke.

·       Israeli soldiers appear to be using the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital in Gaza as a base for military operations.

·       Resistance returns to the north, 300,000 people fled Rafah. Israeli army intensified its renewed assault on Jabalia refugee camp & the Zeitoun area in both northern Gaza as resistance factions regroup there, months after the Israeli army said it had "defeated Hamas" in the north.

·       Gaza Community Mental Health Program (GCMHP) is a non-profit organization offering primary, secondary, & tertiary mental health interventions in the Strip since 1991. Despite the complete devastation of its 2 headquarters in Gaza City & Khan Younis & evacuation of its Deir al-Balah office due to severe damage, the organization remains committed to its mission. At its temporary headquarters in Deir al-Balah, ~35 employees work, including administrators & professionals—psychiatrists and psychologists.

WEST BANK & EAST JERUSALEM

·       Israel razed an entire Bedouin village to expand a highway. The demolition of Wadi-aal-Khalil, an unrecognized village in the Naqab, left over 300 citizens homeless despite their attempts to reach a compromise.

·       Palestinian lorry drivers delivering aid to Gaza have described “barbaric” scenes after their vehicles were blocked & vandalized by Israeli settlers, preventing humanitarian supplies from reaching the territory, where much of the population faces imminent starvation. Israeli soldiers escorting the convoy did nothing to stop the attack.

·       Israeli army conducted air strike in city of Jenin

·       Mahmoud Mashayikh, working with Health 4 Palestine, was arrested by Israeli forces in Aida Camp. He was violently taken from his home & has been detained without charge.

ISRAEL

·       More than two weeks after Israel announced his death, it still has not released the body of 1 of Gaza’s most celebrated doctors, Adnan al-Bursh. Israel hasn’t said how this 50-year-old man in good health died in Ofer Prison or why he was detained in December, then stripped, bound & carried away from the hospital where he was treating the sick and wounded. And it hasn’t offered any reason for why he was held for 4 months without any contact with his family or a lawyer. The wife of Dr. Adnan Al-Bursh  submitted a request to the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court to appoint a judge for the investigation of her husband’s death. He was father of 6 and head of orthopedics at Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital. His wife submitted the request with a representative of Physicians for Human Rights Israel.

·       The parents of >900 Israeli soldiers deployed in Gaza have signed a letter urging the military to call off its ongoing offensive in Rafah, calling it a “deadly trap” for their children.

·       Thousands of Israelis, including Netanyahu government ministers, participated in a march calling to resettle Gaza. Communication Minister Shlomo Karhi said: “In order to preserve the security achievements for which our soldiers lost their lives, we must resettle Gaza with security forces & settlers that will embrace the land with love.”

·       After ~100 Israelis blocked & damaged an aid convoy en route to Gaza, 2 accusations of blame regarding whose responsibility it was to guard the convoy.

·       Standing Together, a grassroots movement focused on an Arab-Jewish partnership, plans to mobilize Israelis in an attempt to quell the recent spate of attacks on trucks carrying humanitarian aid into Gaza perpetrated by right-wing settlers.

·       Israel said it would send more troops to Rafah despite international concerns about the threat to civilians from a full-scale invasion, where more than a million displaced people had been sheltering. The Israeli closing of the border crossing has already cut off humanitarian aid. Many Palestinians have been directed to an area along the coast designated by the Israelis as a “humanitarian zone.” Maps and analysis of satellite imagery show that the zone is already overcrowded, frequently damaged by strikes, and lacking sufficient medical services.

·       A major fissure in Israel’s war cabinet is exposed with Defense Minister Gallant challenging PM Netanyahu’s unspecified plans for post-war Gaza.

US

·       US shipments of high-payload bombs have already been halted. Blinken said sale of further weapons systems may be stopped if a full-scale offensive goes ahead in Rafah.

·       The US state department moved a $1bn package of weapons aid for Israel into the congressional review process, 2 US officials said. The latest weapons package includes tank rounds, mortars & armored tactical vehicles.

·       Lily Greenberg Call became the first Jewish Biden administration staffer to resign over the war in Gaza, leaving her post as special assistant to the chief of staff at the Department of the Interior. In her resignation letter she wrote, “What I have learned from my Jewish tradition is that every life is precious.”

·       Under new anti-terrorism legislation just passed by the US House of Representatives, bill would allow the government to take away vital tax exemptions from nonprofits, including news outlets, deemed “terrorist supporting.” Existing laws on material support for terrorism have long been criticized for their overbreadth & potential for abuse, not only against free speech but also against humanitarian aid providers.

INTERNATIONAL

·       Egypt is joining South Africa’s ICJ case against Israel. Senior Israeli officials fear the ICJ may order new orders against Israel, as the operation in Rafah is having a major impact on humanitarian aid.

·       UN’s top court, the International Court of Justice, opened 2 days of hearings on

5/16 into a request from South Africa to make sure Israel halts its military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s population has sought shelter.  A decision on the request for emergency measures is expected next week.

·       Court in Germany has overturned a Europe-wide travel ban imposed by German authorities on Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta, the British Palestinian surgeon who spent weeks saving lives in Gaza.

·       University Network for Human Rights released & sent to UN offices a 105-page report that it called “the most thorough legal analysis” yet to find Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

SOURCES

OCHAOPT, +972, Counterpunch, The Guardian, Electronic Intifada, Haaretz, CNN, Democracy Now, Portside, New York Times, The Nation, The Intercept, 1for3, Aljazeera, Reuters, Journal of Palestine Studies, Mondoweiss, WHO