Editorial Note: The following news reports are summaries from original sources. They may also include corrections of Arabic names and political terminology. Comments are in parentheses.

 

19,902 Accounted for Palestinians Killed,  6,700+ Under Rubble, 52,600 Injured, in US-Backed Israeli Genocidal War on Starved Gaza Strip

December 20, 2023 

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Editor's Notes:  

Here are some initial (not final) statistics, which show the Israeli war crimes against humanity, during the current Israeli genocidal war on Gaza:  

By December 20, 2023, the initial death toll of Palestinians who have been killed by the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza Strop is 26,602+.   

This includes the accounted for deaths (19,902) and those who are still missing under the rubble (Corrected on December 20, 2023: 6,700+).   

The documented injuries exceeded 52,600.   

By December 20, 2023, there were 304 Palestinians who were killed, 3,454 who were injured, and 4,605 who were abducted by Israeli occupation forces in the West Bank, since October 7, 2023. 

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By December 10, 2023, the death toll included 8,000+ children and 6,200+ women.   

By December 14, 2023,  there was a complete destruction of 56,000+ housing units, and 224,000+ damaged housing units (60% of Gaza housing units). This forced about 1.5 million people to become homeless, taking refuge in crowded UN schools and ultimately sleeping in the streets.  

The Israeli refusal to allow international aid caravans to enter Gaza freely led the Palestinian population to be on the verge of mass extermination for the lack of food, water, medicine, and fuel.  

By December 6, 2023, 290 health personnel were killed and hundreds were injured, 102 ambulances were destroyed while on duty, killing and injuring their crews, and destroyed 56 health institutions. As a result of the strikes and lack of fuel, 26 hospitals and 46 primary care centers are not functioning.  

 

Ten Palestinian civilians were killed in an Israeli genocidal bombing of 'Ali bin Abi Talib Mosque in the vicinity of the Kuwaiti Hospital in the city of Rafa'h, December 20, 2023	A Palestinian little girl, who was one of the victims of the 75th day of the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza Strip, December 20, 2023
Israeli occupation soldiers abducting a Palestinian boy in the West Bank, December 20, 2023	Israeli occupation forces' bulldozer demolishing a Palestinian residential building in the village of Al-Jiftlik, in Central Jordan Valley, December 20, 2023
Starvation is spread in northern Gaza strip forced trapped Gazans to eat dead poultry and tree leaves, December 14, 2023	Ma'hmoud Za'oul, 16, was killed by Israeli soldiers in 'Husan, Dec. 20, 2023 Basil Al-Mu'htasib, 28, was killed by Israeli occupation soldiers in Bait 'Ainoun, Al-Khaleel, December 20, 2023
A Palestinian woman grieving the death of her family members by Israeli genocidal bombardment on Gaza Strip, December 20, 2023	Grieving relatives who were killed by Israeli occupation forces in Gaza Strip, December 20, 2023

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَـٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

"مِنْ أَجْلِ ذَٰلِكَ كَتَبْنَا عَلَىٰ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ أَنَّهُ مَنْ قَتَلَ نَفْسًا بِغَيْرِ نَفْسٍ أَوْ فَسَادٍ فِي الْأَرْضِ فَكَأَنَّمَا قَتَلَ النَّاسَ جَمِيعًا"  (الْمَائِدَةُ ، 5: 32).

"وَمَنْ يَقْتُلْ مُؤْمِنًا مُّتَعَمِّدًا فَجَزَاؤُهُ جَهَنَّمُ خَالِدًا فِيهَا وَغَضِبَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَلَعَنَهُ وَأَعَدَّ لَهُ عَذَابًا عَظِيمًا" (النِّسَاءُ ، 4: 93).

"Because of that, We decreed upon the Children of Israel that whoever kills a soul, unless for a soul, or for corruption in the land, it is as if he had killed humankind entirely" (The Holy Quran, Al-Ma-ida, 5: 32).

"And whoever kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell, wherein he will abide eternally, and Allah has become angry with him, and has cursed him, and has prepared for him a great torment" (Al-Nisa, 4: 93).

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While brutal force has been used to create Zionist Israel and sustain it thus far, Zionist claims to Palestine are false. Actually, from the five thousand years of known written human history, there has been a continuous Palestinian-Canaanite presence in the Holy Land. Despite the Zionist false claims, the ancient Israelites ruled part of the land for only 85 years (during the reign of Prophets David and Solomon , peace be upon them, and Solomon's son).

 After that, the Egyptians conquered Palestine-Canaan in 925 BC, followed by Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans, before the Arab Muslim rule, starting from 636 AD.

By the Time Jesus, peace be upon him, started his mission, the three population groups of Canaanites, Palestinians, and Israelites were melted together in religion and language. Most of them became Christians when Constantine converted in 313 AD. Then, most of them became Muslims in the 7th and 8th centuries AD.

So, Palestinian Muslims, Christians, and Jews are the ones who have the right to claim descent from ancient Israelites, Palestinians, and Canaanites, not Zionists from other continents.

No matter what the Zionists and their supporters do, they cannot change the will of God, Who promised the Holy Land to Abraham and his descendants, basically the Palestinian Muslims and Christians.

No matter how much persecution and aggression the Zionists and their supporters inflict upon the Palestinian people, they will never be able to force them out of the Holy Land, which Allah, praise to Him, promised for them, and kept His promise ever since.

The following news stories are just examples, not a systematic record, of the Israeli occupation government abuse, mistreatment, and violations of Palestinian human rights, on daily basis.

More detailed news stories can be found at the following sources:

http://english.wafa.ps/, https://english.palinfo.com/, https://imemc.org/, https://paltoday.ps/ar/


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Editorial Notes about terms & names of people and places:

1. Names of people and places have been standardized to match standard Arabic grammatical rules.

2. Underlined letters and letters preceded by an apostrophe are references to Arabic letter sounds, which does not exist in the English alphabet.

3. The English letter i is equivalent to the Arabic short vowel known as kasra, as in Ibraheem and Qasim as well as in the English words sit and bit. So, it is incorrect to use it as a long vowel for such Arabic names as Jameel and Jibreel.

4. The English letter e is equivalent to the Arabi short vowel known as fat'ha, as in A'hmed and Mu'hammed.

5. It is more accurate to refer to the land-grabbing Israelis, who establish illegal settlements in the Palestinian territory of the West Bank, as illegal Israeli settlers, than referring to them as colonists.

The term colony is a reference to a large entity or a country, such as American states before independence. It was also a reference to Egypt, and India, when they were British colonies.

In addition, the term "colony" represents a positive nostalgic theme, in the minds of native speakers of English, particularly in America and Britain.

6. It is more accurate to use the verb "abduct" than the verb "detain," in reference to taking Palestinian citizens by force to prisons and interrogation centers, by Israeli occupation regime soldiers. This is because the presence of the Israeli occupation regime forces is illegal in the Palestinian territories, and they have no jurisdiction over the Palestinian people.

Click here for more about using the apostrophe and the underlining of letters in the transliteration of Arabic names.


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UNSC postpones again voting on resolution calling for unhindered humanitarian aid to Gaza

NEW YORK, Wednesday, December 20, 2023 (WAFA) –

The UN Security Council postponed once again voting on a resolution calling to allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access to Gaza.

“The Security Council has agreed to continue negotiations today to allow for additional time for diplomacy. And the presidency will reschedule the adoption for tomorrow (Thursday) morning," said Ecuador's Jose Javier De La Gasca Lopez-Dominguez, who holds the council's rotating presidency.

This postponement was at the request of the United States.

Ambassador Lana Nusayba of the United Arab Emirates said: “Everyone wants to see a resolution that has impact and that is implementable on the ground.”

“We believe today, giving a little bit of space for additional diplomacy, could yield positive results,” she said.

T.R.

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Ministry of Health denounces forcing Dr. A'hmed Al-Ka'hlout to make confessions under duress

Wednesday 20-December-2023, GAZA, (PIC)

The Ministry of Health in Gaza denounced the Israeli raid and destruction of Kamal 'Adwan Hospital, the arrest of its director, Dr. A'hmed Al-Kahlout, and forcing him to make confessions under duress.

The Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday, that the Israeli occupation forces targeted hospitals, primary care centers, mental health centers, ambulances, non-governmental institutions, and health and humanitarian work personnel in violation of the international law.

The Ministry affirmed that Al-Ka'hlout’s statements which were published in a video clip, were recorded while he was subjected to illegal investigation, stressing that his statements were extracted under intimidation and coercion to make confessions under the influence of torture and severe beatings.

The Ministry explained that Al-Ka'hlout works within the staff of the Military Medical Services, which is an official body affiliated with the Palestinian Ministry of Interior and listed under the approved components of the Palestinian National Authority.

The statement also pointed out that the rank of brigadier general is a job rank in the medical services apparatus affiliated with the Ministry of Interior, and these ranks are known and used all over the world.

The medical service personnel receiving training and courses specific to the nature of the work of the Ministry of Interior is also a routine procedure followed globally.

The presence of the medical investigations and official agencies of the Palestinian Ministry of Interior inside the hospital came as a result of the destruction of the infrastructure of these devices and due to the need for a place that provides the necessary work requirements, which are approved devices within the structure of the Ministry of Interior, the statement added.

The Ministry stressed that the Israeli occupation seeks to justify its successive crimes, especially its targeting of the health system, in the wake of its failure to prove its allegations about the presence of alleged control centers under the buildings of Al- Shifa Medical Complex.

The Ministry called on human rights organizations to open an urgent probe into Kamal Adwan Hospital massacre, where Israeli occupation forces besieged children with no access to water, food, and electricity for extended days, which ended up with the bombing of the hospital, the death of two women and two sick children, and the injury of dozens.

This was followed by storming the hospital, arresting dozens of displaced people, patients, and health personnel, amid brutal attacks against them all. Graves were exhumed, the hospital was knocked down, bodies were crushed under tank tracks, and many other horrific details.

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Telecommunications and internet services completely cut off in Gaza for the 6th time

Wednesday 20-December-2023, GAZA, (PIC)

The Palestinian Telecommunications Company announced on Wednesday a total blackout of telecommunications and Internet services in the Gaza Strip due to the ongoing Israeli aggression.

For its part, Ooredoo company announced the destruction of the generators powering telecommunications and Internet companies in the center and the south of the Gaza Strip, while companies remain partially working in the north.

This is the sixth time Gaza suffers from a total communication blackout since the Israeli aggression began on October 7.

On December 14, Israeli occupation forces (IOF) had cut off communications and Internet services in the Gaza Strip for four days, before they were partially restored with a limited return of services to some areas of the Strip.

The communication blackout is usually accompanied by an escalation in Israeli massacres against Palestinians in the beleaguered enclave.

Since October 7, the Israeli occupation apartheid regime has been waging a devastating war on the Gaza Strip, resulting in about 80,000 martyrs, missing and wounded, with 70% of whom children and women, in addition to the destruction of hundreds of thousands of housing units and the forced displacement of about two million people.

Communications blackout Gaza Strip Israeli aggressi

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GMO sends urgent humanitarian appeal over catastrophic situation in Gaza

Wednesday 20-December-2023, GAZA, (PIC)--

 The Palestinian Government Media Office (GMO) in Gaza issued a humanitarian warning to the world on Tuesday evening, stating that the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is catastrophic, extremely dire, and heading towards an abyss due to the genocidal war waged by the Israeli occupation army.

The Office confirmed that more than 1.8 million people have become displaced, living outside their homes and residences, either in displacement centers or in other houses and accommodations. Approximately 2.4 million people are living in difficult and unprecedented humanitarian conditions, suffering greatly in securing food, medicine, and safe drinking water, it added.

The appeal calls for the opening of crossings and urges the immediate rescue of the Gaza Strip by opening all crossings, including the Karm Abu Salim crossing, to expand the scope of relief efforts and accelerate the arrival of essential food, supplies, and provisions to markets, shops, and all residents of the Gaza Strip.

The GMO emphasized that the population of the Gaza Strip is in urgent need of rescue and relief. The people are in dire need of meeting water and sanitation needs, rehabilitating infrastructure, water desalination units, and giving priority to providing warm clothing, blankets, and other winter supplies, it added.

Ensuring fuel supply is a priority, GMO said, stressing that the process of fuel entry is the backbone of the success of humanitarian relief operations for the people of the Gaza Strip in all priority areas, including the provision of food, water, and medicine. Furthermore, it is crucial for removing the effects of the humanitarian catastrophe and attempting to overcome it, which requires continuous and abundant fuel supply. The statement estimated that the Gaza Strip needs one million liters of fuel daily to overcome these challenges.

The GMO held the international community and the United States of America, along with Israel, fully responsible for the genocidal war waged on Gaza. The statement pointed out that this genocidal war has so far claimed the lives of more than 26,000 martyrs and missing persons, with around 53,000 injuries.

The statement sharply criticized the international community and the United States of America, especially since they have deliberately imposed measures to hinder all efforts aimed at stopping the genocidal war on the Gaza Strip. It holds them responsible for the tragedy that has befallen Gaza on all levels. 

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Euro-Med: Shocking testimonies about liquidations and field executions in Gaza

Wednesday 20-December-2023, GENEVA, (PIC)

Shocking testimonies received by the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor revealed that the Israeli army carried out field executions against civilians during raids on Palestinian homes in the areas of land incursion into the Gaza Strip.

The Euro-Med Monitor said that it had obtained shocking testimonies of Israeli army forces raiding the Anan family’s home in central Gaza City on Tuesday, 12/19/2023. They later opened fire at the young men inside the house with no apparent reason or resistance and gathered women in one single room before firing a number of missiles, injuring some of them.

According to preliminary information received by the Euro-Med Monitor, 13 members of the 'Anan family and their displaced in-laws, the Al-'Ashi and Al-Shurafa families, were killed by Israeli gunfire, while other members of the family are still in critical condition. The soldiers also took an elderly man, whose fate is still unknown.

27 women and children are trapped in the house—many of whom have severe injuries or amputations—and have appealed to the International Committee of the Red Cross to coordinate their evacuation and save their lives.

A relative of the victims told the Euro-Med Monitor: My sister informed me that an Israeli force raided the house and executed the young men. Thirteen persons were shot dead and several more were critically injured. The Israeli soldiers later threw shells at the women, who were being held in one of the rooms. My mother, my sister, and my brother’s wife were injured along with several others. If they are not saved right away, they might die at any time.

Euro-Med confirmed that it had received repeated testimonies about humanitarian atrocities committed by Israeli forces in the areas they invade, including physical liquidations and field executions of civilians without reason. According to the testimonies, when soldiers raid a house, they blow up the gates and start shooting heavily, ignoring the residents’ appeals for help.

The Euro-Med Monitor documented many incidents where soldiers deliberately shoot and kill young civilians while women and children are subjected to humiliating abuse.

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor called on the International Committee of the Red Cross to bear its responsibilities and respond to the appeals it receives to evacuate the wounded and victims in areas where Israeli ground incursions are taking place. 

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Starvation in Gaza: Trapped Gazans eat dead poultry and tree leaves

Thursday 14-December-2023, GAZA, (PIC) --

The stranded people in the besieged Gaza Strip have no choice but to eat dead poultry and tree leaves in a scene that the reader might think at first glance that he or she is observing in one of the books on Prophet Mohammed’s biography, when Quraysh suffocatingly besieged the Prophet, peace be upon him, along with his companions in the Valley of Abu Talib, to the extent that they had to eat tree leaves due to the severity of the siege and the hunger that befell them.

Today, the scene is repeated in Gaza in the present world where civilization and modernity are claimed to be the main features of this age and where the international community is bragging about advocating human rights, except that the people in the besieged, devastated Gaza who are deprived of “a drink of water, a pill of medicine, and a morsel of food,” are left with no choice but to “eat tree leaves and dead poultry.”

This is a miserable situation that warns of a real famine in the Gaza Strip, according to the World Health Organization and the United Nations which are content to describe the scene without doing anything to break the unjust siege and bring aid to the people of Gaza by the force of law which has been abandoned due to the blatant double standards pursued by the West regarding the Palestinian cause.

In Al-Jalaa neighborhood, Israeli occupation forces (IOF) besieged the residents, placed barriers on the roads and blocked traffic under death threats by a sniper.

Some people managed to approach the doors of their houses, but could not move in side streets due to the siege that has been lasting for 12 days, Ahmed Rizq, one of the inhabitants of the neighborhood, said.

Riziq, who is 27 years old, was trying to get internet service so that he could communicate with his family who were displaced to the city of Khan Younis.

Speaking to Al-'Arabi Al-Jadeed, Rizq revealed that he, along with his family, has recently eaten tree leaves with bread, and they chose leaves that did not contain white gum. He explained that green herbs grew in a small garden near his house that he believed were a kind of chickpeas (a perennial edible winter plant), so he put them in two loafs of bread and ate them and so did other five people in his house. Some of them refused to take the herb at first, but after a couple of days they accepted it.

“When I was a child, I remember once that I ate tree leaves after I had seen someone doing it in a movie scene, and that I did not get hurt. When my mother found out, she punished me so that I do not do it again. Finally, I did it again but, this time, when I told my mother who is displaced in a UN school in Khan Younus, she cried really hard,” he said.

As for the northern Gaza Strip, the pain is no less severe and the situation is no less miserable. The 34-year-old Nawal Abu Saif made bone broth to feed her family and other displaced people. She boiled poultry bones after drying them under the sunlight and added to them chicken broth she found on the ruins of one of the destroyed houses in the middle of Jabalya camp. Then, she added dry bread without knowing whether it was edible. At least it was not moldy because of cold weather.

Abu Saif then prepared a dish out of bone broth and bread, which together becomes Fattah, a famous dish in the Gaza Strip, but without rice or meat, she remarked.

After all, and despite the tragedy, she managed to prepare a meal which has become a difficult task in the deteriorating conditions in the northern Gaza Strip. Nevertheless, everyone, her family members and the other displaced people got their own little portions of that food.

Over the past days, the Israeli brutal occupation has been intensifying its siege of all cities, including Rafa'h, whose people are blocked from reaching Khan Younus, as IOF soldiers are advancing into the northern and eastern outskirts of Khan Younus, with eastern death barrier and armed vehicles isolating Gaza City and the north of the Gaza Strip from all necessities of life.

The trapped Palestinians in Gaza have to search for food among the rubble in the northern Gaza Strip and even Gaza City, hoping to find canned food or other edible items.

Warnings of impending famine The United Nations World Food Program renewed its warning about the risk of imminent famine and starvation in Gaza, saying that people in the Strip have only one meal a day “if they are lucky.”

The UN Food Program highlighted, in a post on “X, the need to expand the zone of secure and unhindered access to aid to prevent a potential famine in Gaza, stressing the need for peace in the current time more than any time before amid the fact that starvation is increasingly spreading in the besieged Strip.

However, the worse situation lies in the fact that Israeli soldiers have been confiscating and burning the little aid brought into the Strip, while relief convoys pile up on the other side of the Rafa'h crossing without the world having the ability to open the crossing and bring in aid to solve the famine catastrophe that all international institutions are warning of.

Nine out of Ten people in Gaza cannot eat everyday Director General of World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said last Sunday that the health sector in Gaza is facing “catastrophic” repercussions due to the Israeli aggression on Gaza.

For his part, Karl Skau, Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Program, said, “Half the population is starving, and 9 out of 10 people cannot not eat every day. It is obvious that the needs are enormous.” 

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Killing and Injuring of Palestinians in Ghazza (Gaza) by Israeli Occupation Regime Forces

US-backed Israeli genocide in Gaza enters Day 75

Wednesday 20-December-2023, GAZA, (PIC)

As the US-backed Israeli genocidal war on the Gaza Strip entered day 75 on Wednesday, massive aerial and artillery strikes continued to pound and level whole blocks and homes and massacre more civilians, mostly children and women.

A reporter for the Palestinian Information Center (PIC) said that the Israeli occupation army carried out attacks on different areas of Gaza last night and on Tuesday, targeting homes, civilian gatherings and shelter centers, and massacring dozens of citizens.

According to local sources, a large number of martyrs and wounded civilians were reported in the morning in the Abu Khalifa area behind the 'Hira Mosque, while their neighbors are unable to reach them because of the intensity of the Israeli bombardment.

Casualties were also reported in an Israeli attack on a school housing displaced families in al-Sabra neighborhood in Gaza City.

The Red Crescent said that one of its ambulance centers in Jabalya in northern Gaza is under tight siege by the Israeli army, pointing out that there are 127 people inside it, including displaced families, wounded civilians and employees.

The Red Crescent added that 12 people, including some of its employees and displaced civilians, were injured at its headquarters in Khan Younus following Israeli strikes on a nearby area.

About 14,000 displaced civilians live at the Red Crescent headquarters in Khan Younus.

Four martyrs were evacuated today to Nasser Hospital following an Israeli strike that targeted a group of citizens near the Jordanian Field Hospital in the west of Khan Younus.

A number of civilians were also killed and injured when the Israeli army bombed a house belonging to the family of Abu Ziyada in Al-Amal neighborhood in Khan Younus.

Another Israeli strike bombed a house near Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Dair El-Bala'h, killing eight civilians and injuring 35 others.

The health ministry said that 38 martyrs and 40 wounded civilians were evacuated to the Jabalya Medical Center following Israeli aerial attacks on Jabalya during the past hours, adding dozens of victims were still buried under the rubble of buildings.

Dozens of casualties were also reported in Israeli aerial and artillery attacks on different areas of Gaza in the morning and later in the afternoon.

At least 24 civilians killed in Israeli strikes on Khan Younus city in southern Gaza

GAZA, Wednesday, December 20. 2023 (WAFA) -

At least 24 civilians were killed and others were injured tonight in Israeli strikes on homes and areas sheltering the displaced people near the European Hospital in Khan Younus in the southern Gaza Strip, raising the death toll today to 55.

The occupation artillery also shelled the eastern areas of Khan Younus, as well as several areas in the center of the Gaza Strip.

In the north of the Strip, the occupation air force dropped internationally banned phosphorus bombs on and around the market area of Jabalya.

Local sources also reported that the occupation forces besieging the town and the Jabalya refugee camp broke into the homes of citizens and forced them out at gunpoint, before setting fire to several houses.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said that Al-Ghalia Ambulance Center remained besieged by the occupation forces, thus threatening the safety of 127 citizens, including medical personnel and 22 wounded.

Citizens in the town of Jabalya reportedly buried the bodies of 30 unidentified people this morning, said sources.

The death toll in the Gaza Strip since the start of the Israeli aggression on October 7 has risen to at least 20,000, including 8,000 children and 6,200 women, while the number of wounded has reached 52,600.

T.R.

More than 40 killed in Israeli bombings in Gaza

GAZA, Wednesday, December 20, 2023 (WAFA) -

More than 40 Palestinians were killed and dozens more were injured this evening in an Israeli bombing on the cities of Khan Younus and Rafa'h in the south of the Gaza Strip.

Local sources said that 32 people were brought dead to Nasir Hospital and that four others, including children, were killed in an Israeli raid on the city of Khan Younus

They said that at least 10 other people were killed in an Israeli bombing of 'Ali bin Abi Talib Mosque in the vicinity of the Kuwaiti Hospital in the city of Rafa'h.

Several journalists were also injured as a result of the Israeli airstrikes in the vicinity of the Kuwaiti Hospital.

M.K.

Almost 20,000 killed by Israel since October 7 in West Bank and Gaza Strip, mainly children: Health Ministry

RAMALLAH, Wednesday, December 20, 2023 (WAFA)

The Ministry of Health said today that the Israeli war machine killed 19,902 Palestinians and more than 55,000 were wounded, mainly women and children, since the start of the Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank on October 7.

It said in its daily report that 19,600 were killed in the Gaza Strip, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics, and that more than 55,000 were wounded, while the number of those killed in the West Bank was 302, adding that the vast majority of them, or 70%, were women and children, while thousands are still missing.

The Ministry said that about 310 health workers were killed, in addition to 35 civil defense members, 97 journalists, and 136 staff in the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

It pointed out that the number of internally displaced people in the Gaza Strip is estimated at 1.9 million people, or about 90% of the population, and about 1.2 million of these displaced people have been registered in 154 UNRWA facilities throughout the Gaza Strip, including one million people registered in 94 UNRWA shelter centers. in the south.

M.K. 

 

Killing and Injuring of Palestinians in the West Bank by Israeli Occupation Regime Forces

A child killed by live Israeli occupation soldiers' bullets in Za'oul, west of Bait La'hm (Bethlehem)

BETHLEHEM, Wednesday, December 20, 2023 (WAFA) -

A 16-year-old child identified as Ma'hmoud Mu'hammed Za'oul was today shot and killed by live bullets fired by Israeli occupation soldiers during confrontations that broke out between Palestinian youths and the soldiers in the village of 'Husan, west of Bait La'hm (Bethlehem), according to Ministry of Health.

A Palestinian security source told WAFA that the occupation forces fired live bullets and toxic tear gas bombs at the youths.

Za'oul was injured in the neck by a live bullet fired by the soldiers and later died of his wounds.

M.K.

IOF kills a Palestinian after opening fire at his car near Al-Khaleel

Wednesday 20-December-2023, AL-KHALEEL, (PIC)

A Palestinian young man was shot dead by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Wednesday morning at the junction of Bait 'Ainoun in northern Al-Khaleel in the West Bank.

Eyewitnesses said that Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint near Bait 'Ainoun opened fire at a young man driving a car at the pretext of intending to carry out a car-ramming attack.

After the soldiers opened fire at him, the young man lost control of his car and hit a wall in the area, where he was left bleeding to death.

Other eyewitnesses affirmed that the young man was killed for no reason.

Palestinian security sources identified the martyr as 28-year-old Basil Al-Mu'htasib.

Abduction of Palestinians by Israeli Occupation Regime Soldiers

Human rights report: 4,605 Palestinians arrested in West Bank by Israeli occupation

Wednesday 20-December-2023, PIC--

The Palestinian Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners Affairs Authority and the Palestinian Prisoners Association confirmed on Tuesday that the number of Palestinian political prisoners from the West Bank has risen to 4,605 since October 7th, following the abduction of 30 individuals on Tuesday.

The two institutions said in their joint statement that the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) “arrested 30 individuals early Tuesday, raising the number of detainees in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, to approximately 4,605 Palestinians since October 7th.”

According to the information provided in the statement, “this figure does not include the arrest cases carried out by the IOF in the Gaza Strip.”

The two human rights institutions documented the grave violations that accompanied the arrest campaign and raids, including extensive acts of torture, brutal beatings, threats against detainees and their families, as well as field investigations, widespread destruction and sabotage of citizens’ homes, and direct gunfire with the intent to kill.

The IOF launched a large-scale arrest and raid campaign across various parts of the West Bank on Tuesday and besieged a mosque as part of its ongoing crimes against the Palestinian people wherever they are present.

It is worth noting that several institutions concerned with Palestinian prisoner affairs affirmed in a study issued last week that the IOF has arrested 4,605 Palestinians in the West Bank since October 7th.

The human rights institutions, including the Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners Affairs Authority, the Palestinian Prisoners Association, the Wadi Hilwa Information Center – Silwan, and the Al-Dhameer Foundation for Prisoners and Human Rights, presented a “special report” regarding the abduction campaigns carried out by the IOF after October 7th, along with the accompanying crimes and the situation of prisoners in Israeli prisons.

The report documented that the abduction campaigns resulted in approximately 4,000 abductions, with the highest number occurring in Al-Khalil Governorate, which reached 1,000.

It added that the number of abductions among women reached 150, including women who were abducted in 1948 Occupied Palestine while the abductions among children exceeded 255.

The number of abductions among Palestinian journalists since October 7th reached 45, with 32 still being held in detention.

Since the beginning of the Israeli genocidal war on the Gaza Strip on October 7th, the IOF has escalated its military operations in the West Bank, intensifying incursions and raids on towns and camps, resulting in dozens of casualties and hundreds of detainees.

Palestinians kidnaped, injured in IOF raids in the West Bank

Wednesday 20-December-2023, WEST BANK, (PIC)

The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) kidnaped at dawn Wednesday a number of Palestinian citizens, opened fire at others and destroyed two homes during raids in the West Bank.

According to local sources, the IOF kidnaped and injured some citizens in Tubas City and Tamoun town, amid clashes with young men.

Eyewitnesses said that one young man was injured in his thigh during clashes between local youths and Israeli forces in Tamoun town.

The director of the Palestinian Prisoner Society in Tubas, Kamal Bani 'Oada, said that the IOF kidnaped the wife of ex-detainee Hani Bani 'Oada to pressure him to turn himself in. Hani was released about two weeks ago.

Bani 'Oada added that another citizen called Mu'hammed Bisharat was taken prisoner during the IOF raid in Tubas to pressure his brother Ra-iq, an ex-detainee, to turn himself in, pointing out that Israeli soldiers severely beat Ra-iq’s son.

Meanwhile, the IOF used a bulldozer to destroy parts of two homes in Tamoun town.

In Jineen, two young men were reportedly wounded by IOF gunfire at dawn during clashes with Israeli occupation soldiers in Yamoun town.

Local sources said that Israeli occupation forces raided several homes in Yamoun town and encircled a house in Zayid neighborhood while ordering a young man to turn himself in.

In Nablus, two young men were also injured by live ammunition during clashes with Israeli occupation forces in 'Aseera Al-Shamaliya town.

The Red Crescent said that its ambulance crews evacuated two young men with injuries in the chest and abdomen from Aseera Al-Shamaliya town.

Armed clashes also broke out between resistance fighters and Israeli occupation forces in Balata refugee camp in eastern Nablus.

 

Aggression and Attacks by Illegal Israeli Settlers and Soldiers

IOF demolishes property, seizes lands in the West Bank

Wednesday 20-December-2023, WEST BANK, (PIC)

Israeli occupation forces (IOF) demolished on Wednesday Palestinian houses and facilities in Ramallah and Central Jordan Valley, amid seizure of dozens of dunums of agricultural land.

Local sources reported that Israeli bulldozers knocked down a residential building under construction, a warehouse, owned by Abed Sa'adat Estaih, and an automobile repair shop, owned by Mu'hammed Qasim Qadah, west of Ramallah.

The IOF also bulldozed agricultural lands adjacent to the apartheid wall near Dair Qaddis town in Ramallah, the sources added.

Israeli military vehicles destroyed a number of parked cars on the main street in Ni’leen, closed the roads leading to Ni’leen and Dair Qaddis towns and blocked movement.

The IOF soldiers who were stationed near Dair Qaddis Boys’ Secondary School took the roof tops of residential buildings in the area, causing panic among students, and attacking them on their way home from school.

Meanwhile, Israeli bulldozers began demolishing residential facilities in the village of Al-Jiftlik in Central Jordan Valley, under the pretext of lacking a construction permit.

Illegal Israeli settlement plans On the other hand revealed, on Wednesday, by the Settlement and Wall Department in Qalqilya Governorate, that a new illegal Jewish settlement plan to seize 104 dunums of land located behind the separation and apartheid wall south of Qalqilya.

The department reported that the plan aims to seize lands planted with olive trees from the villages of Seniriya and Masha, south of Qalqilya, for the construction of about 250 settlement units in the Jewish settlement, which is located on the lands of Qalqilya and Salfit.

The IOF also seized another piece of land to build a settlers-only road in the town of Tequ, southeast of Bethlehem.

The director of the Office of the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission in Bethlehem, Hassan Brejiyah, reported that the IOF seized on Wednesday five dunums in the area to open a road, linking the “Izdbar” and “Nokdim” settlements located on Palestinians’ lands.

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