Casualties
- 43,020 + killed* and at least 101,110 wounded in the Gaza Strip, including 59% women, children and elderly, as of October 21, 2024.*
- 763+ Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. This includes at least 146 children.**
- 2,672 Lebanese killed and more than 12,468 wounded by Israeli forces since October 8, 2023***
- Israel revised its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,189.
- The Israeli army recognizes the death of 890 Israeli soldiers and the injury of at least 5,065 others since October 7.****
* Gaza’s branch of the Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed this figure in its daily report, published through its WhatsApp channel on October 28, 2024. Rights groups and public health experts estimate the death toll to be much higher.
** The death toll in the West Bank and Jerusalem is not updated regularly. This is the latest figure according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health as of October 27, 2024.
*** This figure was released by the Lebanese Health Ministry, updated on October 28, 2024. The counting is based on the Lebanese official date for the beginning of “the Israeli aggression on Lebanon,” when Israel began airstrikes on Lebanese territory after the beginning of Hezbollah’s “support front” for Gaza.
**** These figures are released by the Israeli military, showing the soldiers whose names “were allowed to be published.” Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot reported on August 4, 2024, that some 10,000 Israeli soldiers and officers have been either killed or wounded since October 7. The head of the Israeli army’s wounded association told Israel’s Channel 12 that the number of wounded Israeli soldiers exceeds 20,000, including at least 8,000 who have been permanently handicapped as of June 1. Israel’s Channel 7 reported that according to the Israeli war ministry’s rehabilitation service numbers, 8,663 new wounded joined the army’s handicap rehabilitation system since October 7 and as of June 18.
Key Developments
Gaza
- Israeli army forces the Kamal Adwan Hospital to go out of service after forcing medical staff and displaced Palestinians to leave it.
- Israeli forces detain dozens of Palestinians, including medical staff from Kamal Adwan hospital.
- Israeli forces besiege al-Awda and Indonesian hospitals in north Gaza.
- Israeli forces kill 35 Palestinian civilians in the bombing of a residential block in Beit Lahia, kills 20 more in bombing of a school sheltering civilians in the Fakhoura neighborhood in Jabalia, northern Gaza.
- Israel kills 11 Palestinian civilians in the bombing of Asmaa school sheltering civilians in the Shati refugee camp in western Gaza City, including three journalists.
- Gaza’s Government Media office says number of journalists killed by Israeli forces in Gaza since October of last year rose to 180.
- Israel bombs Sabra and Zeitoun neighborhoods in Gaza City.
- Israel bombs the north of Rafah and Deir al-Balah, killing four Palestinians since Sunday.
- Israel has bombed Beirut’s southern district eight times since Sunday.
- Palestinian Civil Defense says Israel is sabotaging international Polio vaccination efforts by forbidding vaccination teams to reach northern Gaza.
Iran
- Israel conducts airstrikes on Iran in response to Iran’s retaliatory missile strikes on October 1 for the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July and Hezbollah Secretary General Hasan Nasrallah in Beirut in late September.
- Iranian Revolutionary Guard says Iran’s air defenses fought off part of Israel’s attack on Iran; Iranian news agency Tasneem says no targets belonging to Revolutionary Guard were struck by Israeli attack.
- Iran denies Israeli claims that 100 warplanes took part in attack and 20 targets were struck, considers Israel claims an attempt to magnify actual size of attack.
- Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei says country’s specialized authorities will decide proper response to Israel’s attack.
- Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid says Israel’s avoidance of striking strategic and economic targets in Iran was “wrong.”
- Likud Knesset members Tali Gottlieb says Israel’s decision not to attack oil and nuclear facilities in Iran was “a mistake.”
- Israeli opposition leader Avigdor Liberman says Israel “wasted an opportunity” to weaken Iran’s nuclear capacities.
Lebanon
- Israel bombs Lebanese towns of Zibqin, Burgholiyeh, Qleileh, Byut al-Sayad, Jabal Blat, Jebal al-Butm, Ramadiyeh, Sheitiyeh, Kufr Kila, Deir Sirian, and Kufr Tebnit, as well as cities of Nabatieh and Tyre in southern Lebanon, the towns of Suhmor, Halaniyeh, Taria, Mashghara, Asireh and Shimstar, and the Beqaa Valley.
- Israel kills at least 25 Lebanese in several airstrikes on Tyre since Sunday.
- Hezbollah launches five rockets at Haifa on Monday.
- Hezbollah issues call to Israelis to evacuate 25 towns in the Galilee and occupied Syrian Golan Heights.
- Israel’s Channel 12 reports 15 rockets fired at Kiryat Shmona in upper Galilee on Sunday.
- Israeli army admits two of its officers and three soldiers killed since Sunday in combat in southern Lebanon, raising admitted number of Israeli casualties in Lebanon to 15 dead, over 80 wounded in two days.
- Hezbollah drone attack strikes Israeli military factory near Akka.
- Israeli war minister Yoav Gallant says Israel will have to make “painful compromises” and that “not all goals are achieved through military action.”
- Head of Mossad meets CIA Director and Qatari foreign minister in Doha to discuss reviving ceasefire negotiations in Gaza and Lebanon.
- Five Israelis killed, 39 wounded or injured in truck ramming attack on bus station in Glilot, north of Tel Aviv; Israeli forces shoot and kill truck driver responsible for ramming attack, Rami Nasrallah, 49, from town of Qalansuwa.
West Bank
- Israeli forces kill Palestinian man Islam Odeh, 29, in Tulkarem, after brief gunfight at besieged house in Tulkarem.
- Israeli settlers attack Palestinian farmers during olive harvest, force them to leave their harvest behind in the villages of Keisan and Harmala near Bethlehem, the village of Kufr Malik near Ramallah, and village of Kufr al-Deek near Salfit.
- Israeli settlers set fire to vehicle during attack on Palestinian farmers during olive harvest in village of Qabalan near Nablus, open fire at Palestinian farmers harvesting olives in village of Qusra near Nablus.
Israel forces Kamal Adwan Hospital out of service
The last functioning hospital in northern Gaza has officially stopped functioning after Israeli forces raided it over the weekend, arresting all but two of its medical staff and damaging parts of the hospital premises.
On Saturday, Israeli forces began to raid the hospital, ordering patients and medical staff to leave its wings and descend to the courtyard. Israeli soldiers then separated the men from the women and arrested dozens of Palestinians, including all of the hospital’s staff except one nurse and the hospital’s Director, Dr. Husam Abu Safiyeh.
Earlier on Friday, Israeli forces had opened fire on the hospital’s buildings, shattering windows and shelling the upper floors, which injured and killed several Palestinians inside.
For the full story, click below.
Also, today Israel bans UNWRA ( United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East ) from operating in Israel.
The legislation has alarmed the United Nations and some of Israel’s Western allies who fear it would further worsen the already dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, where Israel has been fighting Hamas militants for a year. The ban does not refer to operations in the Palestinian territories or elsewhere…..An UNRWA spokesperson said prior to the vote [ in the Knesset] that the proposed law would be a “disaster” and would have a serious impact on the humanitarian operation in Gaza and in the occupied West Bank….The law would likely directly impact UNRWA institutions in East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in a move not recognised abroad….
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/israel-bans-un-aid-agency-unrwa-from-operating-in-israel/ar-AA1t5oJv?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=HCTS&cvid=523b64ab2ed747588ae1f93baeafa3c8&ei=43
UNWRA responds:
The Claim: Israeli officials have stated that “UNRWA’s problem is not just ‘a few bad apples’ involved in the October 7 massacre,” and that the “institution as a whole is a haven for Hamas’ radical ideology.” ..The Facts: UNRWA has more than 30,000 staff across the region, including 13,000 in Gaza, the majority of them Palestinian. UNRWA takes seriously its responsibility to ensure that its operations and staff adhere to UN values and core humanitarian principles…Since 2022, 66 investigations, out of 30,000 staff across UNRWA and not just in Gaza, looked at a range of alleged related to neutrality breaches, including alleged support for Hamas and other groups. Some of these investigations are still ongoing. Sixty-six cases out of 30,000 staff – not all of which have been substantiated – is just 0.22%. There is absolutely no ground for a blanket description of “the institution as a whole” being “totally infiltrated.”… The Claim: Rather than being part of the solution, UNRWA perpetuates the refugee problem, including by reminding Palestine refugees of their history and telling them their home is in Israel….The Facts: When the UN General Assembly created UNRWA by passing a resolution in 1949, it did not mandate the Agency to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict nor the Palestine refugee issue or find durable solutions for refugees.
https://www.unrwa.org/unrwa-claims-versus-facts-february-2024
One sentence bears repeating:
The law would likely directly impact UNRWA institutions in East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in a move not recognised abroad….