Urgent health update: Consequences of war on Gaza, West Bank/East Jerusalem, and Lebanon - 3-1-25
Ramadan Kareem to all who are observing.
Webinars
*Join the next JVP Health Advisory Council webinar: The Hospital as a Social Institution and Refuge during the Gaza Genocide, a conversation with Faris Giacaman, Palestine Editorial Director at Mondoweiss. March 8, 2025, 9 am Pacific/ 12 pm Eastern Sign up here:
*Doctors Against Genocide (DAG) Webinar March 2, 12 PM ET Register Here: Voices from Gaza – A firsthand account from Dr. Khaled Alser: Co-founder of Healthcare Workers Watch. Dr. Alser spent 7 months in Israeli Detention Camps. Amnesty International Land Mark Report on the Crime of Genocide in Gaza: – Alicia Koutsoulieris: Amnesty International Country Specialist for Israel/OPT/State of Palestine.
*March 16 at 12:00pm ET, please join Zoom webinar to hear from Israeli conscientious objectors who will share their stories of refusing to join the Israeli military. This webinar is hosted in partnership with Veterans For Peace Chapter 51 and the Refuser Solidarity Network (RSN). The Refuser Solidarity Network works to end the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories and the militarization of Israeli society, one soldier at a time. here
REPORTS & JOURNAL ARTICLES
2/18, World Bank, EU, and UN issued the Gaza and West Bank Interim Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (IRDNA), analyzing damages and losses, and recovery and reconstruction needs. Gaza will require US$53 billion over the next decade. Housing accounts for 53% of the total, commerce and industry 20%, transport 8%, and WASH 5%. UN Resident Coordinator Muhannad Hadi stated the “UN stands ready to support the Palestinian people both on humanitarian assistance and a future recovery and reconstruction process.” here
Critics have criticized the UK government for not allowing any severely injured children from Gaza to be medically evacuated to the UK, despite calls from doctors, humanitarian organizations, and MPs. In December 2024 more than 50 MPs signed a letter to Prime Minister Keir Starmer calling for action. It said, “When the Ukraine-Russia war began, a mechanism was quickly put in place for the evacuation of injured children from Ukraine to hospitals here in the UK, to ensure that they received appropriate medical treatment. There is no reason why we should not extend the same support to the children of Gaza.” British Medical Journal
2/26 A report by the Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) has unveiled harrowing testimonies from medical workers detained in Gaza, including abduction from their workplaces, being held for months without charges, torture, sexual abuse, and denial of medical care. Citing the Healthcare Workers Watch, PHRI said that the Israeli military had detained “over 250 healthcare workers in Gaza by September 2024,” among them physicians, nurses, paramedics and support staff who provided “life-saving care amid the ongoing war.” “As of this report, over 180 remain in detention without a clear indication of when or if they will be released,” the PHRI said in the 21-page report titled ‘Unlawfully Detained, Tortured and Starved: The Plight of Gaza’s Medical Workers in Israeli Custody’. here and here
Violations include direct physical injuries suffered by women due to the violent military aggression, as well as their struggle with the loss of a provider or close family members, such as fathers, brothers, or children. The study also emphasizes the negative effects of family fragmentation and the inhumane conditions in displacement shelters. Additionally, the study sheds light on the systematic destruction of women’s economic resources, as their businesses were halted or entirely destroyed during military aggression. The study further monitors the impact of Israel’s systematic starvation policy against the population of Gaza, including women, which has created an environment of relentless violence and compounded their humanitarian suffering. Palestinian Center for Human Rights
Israel’s settlement expansion is remarkably and unprecedentedly accelerating in the West Bank in various forms aimed at entrenching the Israeli control over the land. The most alarming of these forms is pastoral settlement expansion, which uses agricultural and pastoral activity to cover up the seizure of Palestinian land. Sebastia in northwestern Nablus sets a vivid example for this phenomenon where establishment of pastoral settlement outposts has surged, serving as a tool for appropriation of extensive areas of Palestinian land and displacement of their rightful owners. Palestinian Center for Human Rights
A brief history of Israel’s theft and trafficking of Palestinian organs. There are over three decades of evidence that Israeli doctors harvest Palestinian organs in direct violation of international law. These stolen body parts were not just used for transplantation and research but for sale and profit. Mondoweiss
VIDEO
Dr. Khaled Alser, a renowned Palestinian surgeon at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, describes how Israeli forces abducted him from Gaza last year before transferring him to Israeli prisons rife with abuse. He was held by Israel for seven months last year, during which time he says he was beaten, humiliated, denied medical treatment and tortured. He also describes routine sexual assault and sexual humiliation of prisoners by Israeli soldiers, as well as the use of military attack dogs on the detainees. No charges were filed against Alser before he was released back to Gaza. “We as healthcare workers, we don’t have any agenda against anyone. We just provide medical care.” Democracy Now
GAZA
Since the ceasefire began on 1/19, UNRWA and UN partners have distributed over 100,000 tents and provided tens of thousands of blankets, mattrasses, pillows, clothing and other non-food items. Exchanges have released 38 hostages to Israel and around 2,300 Palestinian detainees.
Killed: 48,348 + (57 this week, 47 of whom were corpses unearthed in the rubble)
Injured: 111,761+ (39 this week)
Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza: 407 (0 this week)
Israeli soldiers injured in Gaza: 2,581 (2 this week)
Hostages in Gaza: 59
The Gaza Information Ministry said 14,000+ still missing in Gaza are now classified as killed, which brings their estimate of the death toll to over 62,000.
February 2025 Israel Prison Service (IPS) data lists: 9,846 Palestinians in Israeli custody, including 1,734 sentenced prisoners, 2,941 remand detainees, 3,369 administrative detainees (held without trial), and 1,802 “unlawful combatants.” These figures do not include Palestinians from Gaza detained by the Israeli military since 10/2023.
For more Gaza data: here
Israeli attacks
• 2/17, a boy and a man were killed in Rafah.
• 2/19, 1 killed and others injured in Rafah.
• 2/23, while collecting aid supplies, shots fired from the Rafah Crossing caused a vehicle to overturn, killing 1 and injuring 4.
Displacement, Aid & Shelter
• Between 2/24-25, 6 newborns died from cold weather in Gaza City and Khan Younis.
• 2/20, UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Muhannad Hadi, visited the Gaza Strip, with Director-General of the International Organization for Migration, Amy Pope. They visited several makeshift sites, spoke with residents who emphasized the urgent need for shelter. Meetings with the Shelter and Site Management clusters discussed the need for planning to ensure safe and accessible site locations, clearing of explosive remnants of war, and providing essential services. Partners noted that technical capacity is available, but funding and Israeli denial of entry of construction materials remain critical problems.
• Since the ceasefire, UNRWA has delivered critical food assistance to 2 million people – nearly everyone in Gaza. They have also distributed tents, health consultations at 9 health centers 50 medical points, and reached over ½ million people with blankets, mattresses, floor mats, clothes, kitchen items, tarpaulins for rain protection and other supplies. They run 120 shelters, hosting 120,000 people. Between 2/17-23, 8,100 IDPs accessed UNRWA psychosocial support (PSS) sessions. UNRWA's "Back to Learning" program reached 6,600 children with basic literacy and numeracy activities, PSS and recreational activities. Nearly 260,000 children are enrolled in the UNRWA distance learning program covering Arabic, English, mathematics, and science.
• According to information gathered by Al Mezan, Israeli forces have not kept within the designated areas outlined in the ceasefire agreement and continue to maintain positions deep inside Rafah – more than one kilometer inside the city center, extending to the eastern garage area, the Palestinian-Egyptian border to the south, and the eastern perimeter fence. These areas remain highly dangerous, where any movement is met with artillery fire, sniper attacks, and aerial bombardment. According to the Rafah Municipality, 200,000 of the city’s 300,000 residents are still unable to return. No organizations have been able to access many of the areas that are still under Israeli control.
Health and Hospitals
• 2/22, a 3-day mass polio vaccination campaign was launched at 418 sites, aiming to cover more than 591,000 children <10. The MoH, WHO, UNICEF, UNRWA, the Red Crescent and other health partners vaccinated 547,748 children, 92.6% of the target population. 2 days of follow-up brought the total to 586,000, 99% of the target.
• 2/24, WHO reported 851 patients (320 children) were evacuated in February to receive care in Egypt and other countries. About 12-14,000 people (4,500 children) remain in urgent need of medical evacuation. WHO urged “scaled-up approvals via all possible routes, including the restoration of medical referrals to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.”
• Health Cluster partners continue to scale up and restore essential health services and boost capacity. Since the ceasefire, 17 primary healthcare centers have been established, increasing the number of fully or partially functional PHCs to 62; 83 PHCs remain non-functional. 11 medical points and 7 mobile clinics have been established.
• 2/22, the Red Crescent opened its Gaza City field hospital with 64 beds (including 8 ICU beds and 6 incubators), 2 operating rooms, 1 laboratory and 1 X-ray unit. 2/17, WHO supported the MoH deployment of a 2nd national emergency medical team (EMT) of 52 Palestinian doctors and surgeons to enhance surgical capacity at Al Aqsa Hospital (Deir al Balah) and the European Gaza and Nasser hospitals (Khan Younis). Another national EMT operates at Al Shifa Hospital.
• No rules’: Gaza’s doctors say they were tortured, beaten and humiliated in Israeli detention here
Water & Sanitation
• Fuel and repairs have doubled groundwater well production since the ceasefire. One of three Mekorot water supply lines from Israel (Bani Saeed line, Deir al Balah) remains out of service after damage by Israeli military activities in the “buffer zone;” all requests to access and repair it have been denied by Israeli authorities. Water provision is now 1/3 of prior to October 2023.
• Leakage from water distribution networks is over 70% due to damage during the war. Cluster partners are increasing water distribution through water trucking. This week they also completed restoration of 3 water desalination plants in Deir al Balah and Khan Younis, serving 76,000 people. Materials shortages continue to limit repair efforts.
• WASH Cluster partners distributed hygiene kits to 8,000 households this week and 3,500 water containers; more than 82,500 kits and 27,500 containers since the ceasefire. They constructed 940 household and 469 communal latrines and decommissioned 763 IDP pit latrines.
• According to the UNDP, over 260,000 tons of solid waste were removed during the first 4 weeks of the ceasefire. Waste collection efforts are hampered by the inability to transfer solid waste from 30 temporary dump sites (half already full) to the Sufa landfill in southern Gaza and the Juhor al Dik landfill in northern Gaza—both inaccessible in the Israeli-declared “buffer zone”— poses significant challenges to waste management efforts and aggravates public health risks.
Detainees
• Israel’s release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, who arrived in the Gaza Strip recently in exceptionally poor health, illustrates its ongoing use of torture to terrorise and persecute prisoners and detainees and break their will until the very end of their detention. The effects of torture were clearly evident, with the emaciated bodies of the released individuals reflecting the severity of systematic crimes and inhumane treatment that exceed all legal and moral bounds.
THE WEST BANK, INCLUDING EAST JERUSALEM
This week, Israeli forces killed 5 Palestinians (2 children) and injured 39 (8 children). Killed since October 2023: 1058 (224 children) and injured: 16,588 (2,560 children).
For more detail: here
Israeli attacks
• 2/19, undercover Israeli forces shot and killed 3 in El Far'a refugee camp, near Tubas, after launching a shoulder-fired missile at their house. Their bodies were withheld by Israeli forces.
• 2/21, Israeli forces shot and killed 2 children: a girl in her yard in Jenin and a boy outside his grandparents’ home near the Israeli-controlled H2 area of Hebron. UNICEF’s Executive Director Catherine Russell stated: “Heartbreaking news that two Palestinian children were killed...This year alone, 17 children have been killed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. It must stop.”
Settler Attacks
This week, settlers carried out 24 attacks against Palestinians, injuring 10 and damaging property (70 olive and 20 other trees). Between 1/1/2023 and 1/31/ 2025, 2,275 Palestinians (1,117 children) have been displaced in the West Bank by settler violence and access restrictions. Settler violence has overtaken home demolitions for lack of a building permit as the leading cause of displacement, especially in Bedouin and herding communities. Between 2020 and 2024, settler attacks on Bedouin and herding communities increased 660% (from 50 incidents in 2020 to 330 in 2024).
• 2/19, Israeli forces accompanying settlers on a raid into East Tayba Bedouin community (Ramallah) injured 2 Palestinians. The settlers and military raided 7 family homes, detaining them for 4 hours, and damaging their belongings: furniture, 5 vehicles, a water tank, and stored flour and fodder. They also stole their phones, jewelry, and money.
• 2/21, armed settlers broke into the 2 homes and 4 barns of a herder family, assaulted them physically and verbally, and displaced them from Ein Yabroud village (Ramallah), where they had been living for decades. They also stole an electric generator. The attack followed daily harassment and threats from a settlement outpost established mid-February.
• 2/22, the home, barn and vehicle of a family of 4 (2 children) were burnt to the ground by 17 armed and masked settlers from a newly-established outpost. They attacked Ma’azi Jaba’ Bedouin community (Area C, Jerusalem) with fuel, clubs and stones. Another 60 settlers, accompanied by members of Israeli military, stormed and vandalized 5 homes, and injured 4 Palestinians. Israeli soldiers fired live ammunition and closed the entrance to the community, preventing the entry of fire trucks.
• 2/23, settlers destroyed an 80m fence to graze hundreds of sheep on agricultural lands of Dhaher al 'Abed village, near Jenin, damaging 70 olive trees.
• 2/22, 200 masked and armed settlers attacked 4 livestock farms and 1 poultry farm in Deir Dibwan (Ramallah) under the protection of Israeli forces, displacing 15 families (90 people, 60 children) and destroying or stealing their property and livestock. The settlers fired live ammunition, assaulted herders, and stole 1,000 goats, sheep, horses and donkeys. Israeli forces closed roads to facilitate the settlers’ assault.
• 2/24, UN Secretary-General António Guterres raised concerns to the Human Rights Council: ”I am gravely concerned by the rising violence in the occupied West Bank by Israeli settlers and other violations, as well as calls for annexation.”
Demolitions & Displacement
This week, Israeli authorities demolished 28 Palestinian-owned structures for lack of Israeli-issued building permits, displacing 58 people (28 children) and affecting 70 people (13 children).
• Between 18 and 24 February, OCHA documented the demolition of 28 Palestinian-owned structures across the West Bank due to the lack of Israeli-issued building permits, which are nearly impossible to obtain. These included seven structures in East Jerusalem, and 21 structures in Area C, displacing 58 people, including 28 children, and otherwise affecting around 70 people. Over 40% of displaced people (24 people) were due to demolitions in the Jabal al Mukabbir area of East Jerusalem. In addition, on 2/20, Israeli forces demolished, with explosives, a four-story residential structure on punitive grounds in Salfit city, displacing three households, comprising ten people, including four children.
• 2/10, the Israeli Civil Administration issued a notice of intent to turn state lands to herding purposes around Ras ‘Ein al ‘Auja Bedouin community (Jericho). More than 100 herder families (700 people) are affected and fear settlers from surrounding outposts will intensify their attacks: 100 incidents since January 2024 caused 40 casualties and damage. 2/4, settlers bulldozed a road through the community to connect 2 (of 5) outposts surrounding them.
Conflict in northern West Bank
Israeli military operations in the northern West Bank enter their 6th week. Humanitarian agencies face restrictions reaching people in need, including Red Crescent health workers and ambulances. 55 Palestinians and 3 Israeli soldiers have died in Jenin, Tulkarm and Tubas.
• In Tubas, governorate, following the withdrawal of Israeli forces, most of the 4,000 Palestinians displaced from El Far’a refugee camp have returned and UNRWA services have resumed, including schooling for over 1,300 students.
• 2/23-25, a 2-day military operation in Qabatiya (Jenin) left a boy shot and damaged infrastructure, including electricity and water lines.
• 2/25, a 14-hour raid in Nablus caused confrontations between stone-throwing youth and Israeli military responding with live ammunition and tear gas. 1 man was shot and killed and 31, including a baby, were injured by live ammunition, rubber-coated bullets and tear gas.
• 2/26, Israeli forces raided Qalqiliya, shooting a 16-year-old to death.
• 2/23, the Israeli Minister of Defense [sic] announced that 40,000 Palestinians displaced from Jenin and Tulkarm camps would not be allowed to return, and that Israeli forces would remain in Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams camps for at least a year. Israeli forces deployed tanks in Jenin for the first West Bank tank deployment since the early 2000s.
• 2/24, the Red Cross expressed concern: “Many people have fled their homes to take shelter, including in crowded mosques and schools. With many homes damaged or destroyed, people are struggling to access basic needs such as clean water, food, medical care, and shelter. Winter weather has made it more difficult to survive. Displaced civilians are also struggling to find information about family members who have gone missing or who might have been detained.”
• 2/25-26, UNRWA and other partners led a needs assessment of IDPs in Jenin and Tulkarm, where over 37,400 have been displaced and where UNRWA had to suspend operations due to Israeli attacks. The assessment found that many families have been displaced multiple times; and many families have lost their livelihoods and basic needs are unmet. Access to food is limited; plans are underway for community kitchens to distribute hot meals during Ramadan.
• Israeli operations, including airstrikes, have destroyed infrastructure and made it impossible to safely conduct socio-emotional support activities for 200 children in Jenin. The new school semester began on 2/2, but 10 UNRWA schools (5,000 northern West Bank students) cannot be protected from routine military and settler violence.
Detainee
• Kazem Zawahra, a Palestinian prisoner severely injured and in a coma, was transferred to a Bethlehem hospital as part of the ongoing prisoner exchange deal between Hamas and Israel. The Palestinian Red Crescent in Jerusalem received the Palestinian prisoner early on Thursday morning, as part of the prisoner exchange deal between Hamas and Israel. In a brief statement, the organization confirmed that its crews transferred the wounded prisoner, who has been in a coma for months, from the Israeli Hadassah Ein Kerem to Al-Hussein Hospital in Beit Jala, Bethlehem, in the southern West Bank.
ISRAEL
• The Israeli military has presented the UN and aid organizations with a plan for running Gaza that involves Israel having tighter control than it did before the war, according to humanitarian officials, casting doubt on whether Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has any intention of carrying out a military withdrawal. here
• Israeli inquiry into military’s understanding of and Hamas threat pre 10/7/23 reveals major errors and failures of southern command, “tragedy but no catharsis” - Haaretz
• Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on 2/27 that Tel Aviv is planning to keep its occupation forces in southern Lebanon and Syria “indefinitely.” “There is a buffer zone [on the border with Lebanon]. It wasn’t easy, but I stood my ground, and we received a green light from the United States; we gave them a map, and we are staying indefinitely. This is situation-dependent, not time-dependent,” the defense minister said. here
US
• 2/26 50+ Columbia students flooded admin office of Barnard college demanding
1. Immediate reversal of the two Barnard students’ expulsions.
2. Amnesty for all students disciplined for pro-Palestine action or thought. Drop all the charges now.
3. A public meeting with Dean Leslie Grinage and President Laura Rosenbury.
4. Abolition of the corrupt Barnard disciplinary process and complete transparency for current, past, and future disciplinary proceedings.
DISRUPTION UNTIL DIVESTMENT, RESISTANCE UNTIL RETURN, AGITATION UNTIL AMNESTY. WE WILL NOT STOP UNTIL OUR DEMANDS ARE MET. FREE PALESTINE. At 10:40 p.m., the protesters, chanting and beating a drum, marched out peacefully.
• Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) last week filed four Joint Resolutions of Disapproval (JRDs) that would block the sale of $8.56 billion in offensive U.S. weaponry to Israel. here
• DOJ anti-semitism task force chief threatened to put protesters against genocide in Gaza in jail "for years" on federal hate crime charges, states prosecutions are to begin soon. here
INTERNATIONAL
• Canadian author Yves Engler was charged with “harassment and indecent communication” for his response to unelicited tweets on his X timeline from Canadian Zionist media personality, Dahlia Kurtz, (police say Engler describes Kurtz as a “genocide supporter” and “fascist”; accusations he readily admits are accurate). Subsequently, Montreal police added charges, alleging Engler’s articles detailing his arrest by them and published at the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute, along with an email letter campaign soliciting support for his release, constitute a threat. Engler was released on 2/24 after spending five days in a Montreal jail. Engler’s arrest and detention “was a shocking attack on free expression and democratic rights in Canada,” said Alex Tyrell, leader of the Green Party of Quebec.
SOURCES
OCHAOPT, British Medical Journal, Palestine Chronicle Physicians for Human Rights Israel, Electronic Intifada, Middle East Eye, X, New York Times, NBC, Al Mazan Center for Human Rights, Democracy Now, The Guardian, Haaretz, Euromed Monitor, The Cradle