Since the start of the war on October 7, 23,708 people have been killed and 60,005 others injured in the Gaza Strip, according to the latest report released Friday, January 12, by the Hamas health ministry, which has governed the territory since 2007. This assessment could not be verified from an independent source. Around 1,140 people, mostly civilians, were killed in attacks by the Palestinian Islamist movement, according to a count by Agence France-Presse (AFP) based on the Israeli toll.
With an average of 250 deaths per day according to Oxfam calculations, the average lethality rate of this war is “significantly higher” than that of “any other recent conflict,” “in Syria (96.5 deaths per day), in Sudan (51.6), in Iraq (50.8), in Ukraine (43.9), in Afghanistan (23.8) and in Yemen (15.8)”, denounced the NGO on Thursday .
In a press release, Oxfam also notes that the already catastrophic humanitarian situation of the 2.4 million inhabitants is further aggravated by the drop in temperatures.
Dozens of people were killed during the night from Thursday to Friday in the Gaza Strip, shelled by Israeli weapons. An AFP journalist heard violent artillery fire between Rafah, at the southern tip of the Palestinian territory, and Khan Younes, the large southern city hit by fewer airstrikes.
According to the Hamas Ministry of Health, “more than 59 dead and dozens of wounded were taken to hospitals following the attacks carried out” during the night “in several sectors.”
“Dozens of terrorists” were killed in Khan Younes and Maghazi, in the center, “including officers of the Nukhba unit” [“elite” in Arabic], said the Israeli army, which also reported a drone strike in Bureij, in the center. In Khan Younès, “an officer of the Nukhba unit who had participated in the October 7 massacre” was notably killed, according to the army.
The UN deplored on Friday that aid operations in the northern Gaza Strip are becoming increasingly difficult, accusing the Israeli army of severely limiting fuel supplies, particularly for hospitals.
Speaking by videoconference from Jerusalem, Andrea De Domenico, the representative of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs for the Palestinian territories, explained that Israel had “partially” approved three missions on Thursday but in the previous days only one in seven had been approved.
He also accused the Israeli army of “very systematically” refusing the delivery of fuel, particularly to hospitals, a situation “which is reaching a level of inhumanity that is beyond comprehension.” Israel judges that the fuel can be diverted to use for rockets fired by Palestinian groups.
The largest hospital in the Gaza Strip, hard hit by the war between Israel and Hamas, has managed to partially resume service, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which has supplied it for the first time since two weeks.
“A team from WHO and partners were able to reach Al-Shifa hospital in northern Gaza today and deliver 9,300 liters of fuel and medical supplies, to treat 1 000 trauma patients and 100 patients requiring dialysis,” announced Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization, on the night of Thursday to Friday on the social network
The United Nations agency team was able to see that the hospital was once again able to provide care thanks to a medical team of 60 people. Al-Shifa has 40 beds in surgery and general medicine, an emergency department and four operating rooms, a basic gynecology-obstetrics and radiology service, a limited capacity of hemodialysis and “minimal” capacities for analyses.
Al-Shifa hospital found itself at the center of intense bombardments, then ground fighting, which marked the first weeks of the conflict, with the Israeli army believing that Al-Shifa was the main command center Hamas operations in the Gaza Strip – something the Palestinian Islamist movement denies.
Internet and telephone were completely cut off again on Friday in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian operator Paltel announced on the social network X.
“We regret to announce that all telecommunications services in the Gaza Strip have been disrupted due to the ongoing aggression. Gaza is once again cut off from the world,” the company said.