Also on 28 December, UNICEF’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa stated that “this year has been the deadliest year on record for children in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, with conflict-related violence reaching unprecedented levels.” The number of children killed in West Bank in twelve weeks since 7 October is more than double the number of children killed in twelve months of 2022.
On 28 December, the MoH in Gaza stated that, within shelters, 50 per cent of pregnant women suffer from thirst, malnutrition, and a lack of health care, and that 50 per cent of displaced children and are exposed to dehydration, malnutrition, respiratory and skin diseases, severe cold and lack of vaccinations for newborns.
In the West Bank: Since 7 October, Israeli forces have injured 3,812 Palestinians, including at least 580 children; 51 per cent in the context of search-and-arrest and other operations and 41 per cent of them in the context of demonstrations. Another 91 Palestinians have been injured by settlers and 12 other Palestinians injured either by Israeli forces or settlers. Some 33 per cent of those injuries have been caused by live ammunition, compared with 9 per cent in the first nine months of 2023.
read the full report: Hostilities in the Gaza Strip and Israel | Flash Update #79
An estimated 100,000 people have moved over the past days to Rafah, already the most densely populated area in Gaza. Their movement, often a repeated displacement, followed the intensification of hostilities in Khan Younis and Deir Al Balah as well as orders by the Israeli military to evacuate certain areas. Photo by UNRWA
