According to Oxfam, Palestinian civilian deaths in Israel’s Gaza war are the most of any significant battle in the 21st century. Israel’s blocking of humanitarian aid in Gaza increases the risk of starvation for survivors.
As Israel continues to bombard the beleaguered coastal enclave more than three months into the war, monitoring groups say civilian deaths in Gaza are unparalleled.
On Thursday, Britain-based Oxfam reported that the daily death toll of Palestinians in Israel’s war on Gaza exceeds that of any previous major battle in the 21st century, while those surviving face starvation, disease, cold, and Israeli bombardments.
“Israel’s military is killing Palestinians at an average rate of 250 people a day, which massively exceeds any other major conflict of recent years,” Oxfam stated.
The charity listed average daily deaths in various conflicts since 2000: 96.5 in Syria, 51.6 in Sudan, 50.8 in Iraq, 43.9 in Ukraine, 23.8 in Afghanistan, and 15.8 in Yemen.
Oxfam claimed Israel’s limitations on help into Gaza, where just 10% of essential weekly food aid enters, exacerbate the problem. It warned that survivors of the unrelenting bombing risk hunger.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) released its World Report 2024 on Thursday, saying Gazan civilians have been “targeted, attacked, abused, and killed over the past year at a scale unprecedented in the recent history of Israel and Palestine”.
Since October 7, Israeli strikes on Gaza have killed 23,469 Palestinians and injured 59,604, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.
According to the ministry, Israeli soldiers committed 10 mass executions in Gaza in the past 24 hours, killing 112 and injuring 194. Around 7,000 individuals are missing and thought dead under the rubble.
“The heinous crimes committed by Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups since October 7 are the abhorrent legacy of decades-long impunity for unlawful attacks and Israel’s systematic repression of Palestinians,” said HRW Israel and Palestine director Omar Shakir.
He wondered, “How many more civilians must suffer or be killed as a result of war crimes before countries supplying weapons pull the plug and otherwise take action to end these atrocities?”
South Africa accused Israel of “genocide” against Palestinians in Gaza at the International Court of Justice in The Hague on Thursday, an accusation the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called “hypocrisy and lies”.
HRW reported that Israel’s war on Gaza has included “acts of collective punishment that amount to war crimes and include the use of starvation as a method of warfare” by cutting off water, electricity, and most humanitarian aid.
In the occupied West Bank, HRW reported the greatest daily average of settler aggression against Palestinians and their property since the UN began documenting this data in 2006. Israel Prison Service records show 3,291 Palestinians in administrative detention without accusation or trial.
“Israeli authorities’ repression of Palestinians, undertaken as part of a policy to maintain the domination of Jewish Israelis over Palestinians, amount to the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution,” HRW said.
According to battle damage mapping experts, the Gaza war is currently one of the deadliest and most devastating in recent history.
CUNY Graduate Center and Oregon State University found that the battle has killed more people than the US-led coalition did in its three-year operation against ISIL using Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellite data.
According to The Associated Press, studies found that the offensive has caused more damage than the 2012–2016 siege of Aleppo, Ukraine’s Mariupol, or the Allied bombardment of Germany in World War II.
Satellite data acquired by the study group suggests that Israel’s attack has damaged or destroyed more than two-thirds of structures in northern Gaza and a quarter in Khan Younis.
That comprises tens of thousands of homes, schools, hospitals, mosques, and stores. UN observers estimate that 70% of Gazan schools are damaged.
Gaza is now a different color from space. Corey Scher of the CUNY Graduate Center, who has mapped wreckage in various war zones, said it has a different texture.
Conclusion
The killing of civilians in Gaza is at an unprecedented scale in recent history, as Israel continues to bombard the besieged coastal enclave more than three months into the war. Britain-based charity Oxfam reported that the daily death toll of Palestinians in Israel’s war on Gaza surpasses that of any other major conflict in the 21st century, while survivors remain at high risk due to hunger, diseases, and cold, as well as ongoing Israeli bombardments. Oxfam also highlighted the crisis is further compounded by Israel’s restrictions on the entry of aid into Gaza, where only 10% of weekly food aid gets in, posing a serious risk of starvation for those who survive the bombardment. Human Rights Watch (HRW) released its World Report 2024, stating that civilians in Gaza have been targeted, attacked, abused, and killed over the past year at a scale unprecedented in the recent history of Israel and Palestine. HRW noted that Israel’s war on Gaza has included acts of collective punishment that amount to war crimes and includes the use of starvation as a method of warfare.
