Compilation of news reports – IAK staff
Israel blocks entry of blankets, clothes and shoes amid cold weather, intensifying Gaza’s catastrophic humanitarian crisis
Despite the advent of a harsh winter and dire humanitarian circumstances, Israel continues to prevent blankets, clothing, and shoes—including necessities for children—from entering the Gaza Strip. Israel has been blocking the entry of these items into the besieged enclave for over a year now.
As the second winter of Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip begins, Palestinians are suffering from a severe lack of clothing and shoes, which have been banned from entering the Strip since the start of the genocide. The only exceptions are a small number of supplies that are allowed in as part of humanitarian aid and are given to a small percentage of the roughly two million displaced people in the enclave.
Euro-Med Monitor notes that there is no military necessity or justification under international law that permits the prevention of basic necessities from reaching a civilian population.
The total amount of aid entering the Gaza Strip in the in recent weeks did not exceed 6% of the population’s daily needs—the majority of which are related to food supplies—and the clothing and shoes allowed to enter the enclave did not exceed 0.001% of residents’ needs.
The vast majority of displaced people in the Gaza Strip continue to live in tents that do not provide adequate protection from the cold and rain, while hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, including women, children, and the elderly, are left without enough appropriate clothing to protect them from the harsh weather as winter approaches.
1,410 families completely wiped out in Gaza war: Health Ministry
The Health Ministry in Gaza has compiled figures on families who have lost multiple members to Israeli attacks:
- 1,410 families have been completely wiped out
- 3,463 families have been left with only one survivor
- 2,287 families have lost members, but have multiple survivors
This means a total of 7,160 families have lost multiple members, with 1,281 families losing at least five members, according to the ministry.
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Zero life-saving aid attempts in northern Gaza facilitated by Israel in November: UN
The UN on Tuesday reported that Israel either denied or impeded all life-saving assistance attempts in the northern Gaza Strip in November.
“Our colleagues in the Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs report that none of the UN’s 41 attempts to reach Palestinians in besieged areas of North Gaza with life-saving assistance this month has been facilitated by Israeli authorities,” deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said at a news conference.
Saying that 37 attempts were denied by Israeli authorities, Haq reported that “four missions were approved, but then impeded on the ground and accomplished only partially.”
UN says 450,000 people living in flood-prone areas in Gaza
Stephane Dujarric, the UN’s spokesman, told reporters in a press briefing:
In recent months, preparations ahead of the rainy season have been severely restricted by the challenges aid agencies are facing in bringing sufficient supplies into Gaza.
Our partners have assessed about 100 flood-prone areas, which are hosting more than 450,000 men, women and children in Khan Younis, Deir al Balah and in the Rafah area.
At nearly all of these sites, local groups are supporting with preparations for potential rains and floods. For example, sandbags have been installed at 20 sites.
However, for 90 per cent of the areas assessed by our partners, there are no workable contingency plans if flooding were to render the sites uninhabitable.
Displaced Palestinians with damaged tents search for refuge
This is the second winter of the war in which thousands of people have been living inside tent camps.
Thousands of tents have been severely damaged or destroyed by the heavy rain and rising tides, particularly those close to the coast or those in the central part of Gaza City. This is increasing people’s suffering and misery.
People with damaged tents have been seeking temporary refuge, moving into mosques, evacuation centres and other spaces, but these places are overcrowded and lack privacy and sanitation.
Other people are staying in their damaged tents. But the cold increases their chances of catching diseases. Others with limited options have found themselves in the streets.
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Israel and Lebanon agree on a ceasefire
Israel’s Security Cabinet on Tuesday approved a U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement with Lebanon, which will begin on Wednesday morning local time, Israeli officials said.
The agreement, which was also approved by the Lebanese side, will end more than a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. It will also allow hundreds of thousands of civilians on both sides of the border to gradually return home.
- More than 3,500 Lebanese have been killed and more than 15,000 injured in the fighting, which began when Hezbollah attacked Israel in the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks and escalated dramatically when Israel launched a ground invasion two months ago. About 140 Israeli soldiers and civilians have been killed.
- The ceasefire agreement includes a 60-day transition period during which the Israeli military is to withdraw from southern Lebanon, the Lebanese army is to deploy in areas close to the border, and Hezbollah is to move its heavy weapons north of the Litani River.
- Israeli officials said the ceasefire will begin on Wednesday 4am local time.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday said that the duration of the ceasefire will depend on whether Hezbollah violates the deal. He claimed he reached an understanding with the U.S. that Israel will “maintain full military freedom of action” (continue reading here).
Israeli official: Netanyahu backed Hezbollah truce amid fear Biden might otherwise punish Israel at UN
Netanyahu decided Israel had no choice but to accept a ceasefire out of a fear that the Biden administration could punish Israel with a United Nations Security Council resolution in its final weeks, asserts an unnamed Israeli official, though the US has not given any indication that it would do so.
Israel is also missing capabilities it needs from the US, including 130 D9 bulldozers, says the official.
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Netanyahu asked Macron to block ICC arrest warrant enforcement in phone call: Report
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron over the phone, requesting that the Paris government not enforce the arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
According to a report by RMC radio, Macron and Netanyahu discussed the ICC’s arrest warrant in a phone call held last week.
During the call, Netanyahu reportedly expressed his anger and asked France not to enforce the court’s decision.
UPDATE: France said on Wednesday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has immunity given that his country is not party to the statutes of the International Criminal Court that has sought his arrest, Reuters has reported. The government in Paris added that it will continue to work closely with him.
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Prominent Irish lawyer dedicates her award to Palestinian women
Irish lawyer Blinne Ni Ghralaigh, who was a member of the South African legal team at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), has dedicated her “Tatler Woman of the Year Award” to the Palestinian women.
“I would like to dedicate this award to the wonderful women of Gaza. To the tens of thousands who have been killed. The many more who have been injured. Those who have suffered untold hurts and those who are still enduring against all the odds. To the displaced, starving, the bereaved, widowed and maimed,” Ghralaigh said on Sunday in her acceptance speech in a video posted on X.
Ghralaigh recognized the resilience of Palestinian women who undergo much pain but continue serving their community such as academics and teachers who are teaching the next generation in makeshift tents and bombed-out buildings.
“The women of Palestine will build Gaza again from the rubble and from the destruction as they have before, like Irish women have before, like women do the world over,” she stressed.
Speaking of Palestinian scientists and women journalists who are still broadcasting the ongoing genocide against Palestinians, Ghralaigh said, “I hope for a better future ahead for them and for us all. May the future finally be women-led. May it be led by brilliant, fierce, intelligent, and compassionate women like our mothers and grandmothers before us.”
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Irish lawyer Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh KC, renowned for her powerful statement while advising South Africa at the ICJ, dedicated her Irish Tatler award to the women of Gaza and Palestine.
Credit to Irish Tatler. pic.twitter.com/CyGoZ6ULFM— Razan Ibraheem (رزان) (@RazanIRL) November 24, 2024
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STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – NOVEMBER 26, 2024:
Palestinian death toll from October 7, 2023 – November 26, 2024: at least 45,077* ( 44,282 in Gaza* – 69% are women and children, according to Gaza’s Media Office). [The Ministry’s figures have been contested by the Israeli authorities, although they have been accepted as accurate by Israeli intelligence services, the UN, and WHO. These data are supported by independent analyses, comparing changes in the number of deaths of UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) staff with those reported by the Ministry, which found claims of data fabrication implausible.]
This is expected to be a significant undercount since thousands of those killed have yet to be identified. This does not include an estimated 10,000 more in Gaza still buried under rubble (4,900 women and children).
In the West Bank, Israeli soldiers and/or settlers have killed at least 795 Palestinians (~167 of them children).
In July 2024, the Lancet said: “Applying a conservative estimate of four indirect deaths per one direct death to the 37,396 deaths reported, it is not implausible to estimate that up to 186,000 or even more deaths could be attributable to the current conflict in Gaza.
Ralph Nader earlier estimated 300,000 Palestinians may have been killed in Gaza.
- At least 60 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons.
- At least 43 Palestinians have died due to malnutrition (at least 37 of them children)**.
- About 1.9 million of Gaza’s 2.3 million population are currently displaced.
- About 345,000 Gazans are currently experiencing catastrophic levels of food insecurity.
Palestinian injuries from October 7 – November 26, 2024: at least 111,330 (including at least 104,880 in Gaza and 6,450 in the West Bank, including 830 children). [It remains unknown how many Americans are among the casualties in Gaza.]
Reported Israeli death toll from October 7, 2023 – November 26, 2024: ~1,583 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 405*** military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza (updated: Nov 21); 39 military and civilians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Israel) and~10,000 injured.
The death toll in Lebanon since October 8, 2023 is at least 3,823, with 15,859 injuries.
NOTE: It is unknown at this time how many of the deaths and injuries of Israelis on October 7 were caused by Israeli soldiers.
*Previously, IAK did not include 471 Gazans killed in the Al Ahli hospital blast since the source of the projectile was being disputed. However, given that much evidence points to Israel as the culprit, Israel had previously bombed the hospital and has attacked many others, Israel is prohibiting outside experts from investigating the scene, and since the UN and other agencies are including the deaths from the attack in their cumulative totals, if Americans knew is now also doing so.
**Euro-Med Monitor reports that Gaza’s elderly are dying at an alarmingly high rate. The majority die at home and are buried either close to their residences or in makeshift graves dispersed across the Strip. There are currently more than 140 such cemeteries. Additionally, according to Euromed, thousands have died from starvation, malnourishment, and inadequate medical care; these are considered indirect victims as they were not registered in hospitals.
***The figure does not include the reportedly 56 Israeli soldiers – nearly 16% of the total Israeli military deaths – killed due to friendly fire in Gaza and other military-related accidents.
† For most of the conflict, women and children accounted for about 70% of deaths in Gaza, with children making up a little over 40% of those killed, according to official statistics.
Find previous daily casualty figures and daily news updates here.
Source: IsraelPalestineTimeline.org
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