A British journalist said that the situation in the Gaza Strip has been characterized in the past three months by such chaos that many of the available statistics may be incomplete, outdated, or drawn from an allegedly unreliable source.
But Archie Bland, editor of the Guardian’s daily first edition newsletter, confirms that there is little “valid” criticism of the casualty figures received from the Ministry of Health in Gaza.
He explained in an article in the British newspaper that the numbers published by the United Nations, independent relief agencies and others are, in many cases, at the minimum level.
Therefore, it is logical – according to the article – to view the picture presented by these sources as conservative estimates of the situation in the Palestinian Strip, rather than concluding that the fog of war obscured the reality of the situation there.
Bland detailed specific aspects of the crisis:
Deaths
The Ministry of Health in Gaza says that 23,84 people were killed as of January 8, in addition to 58,926 injured.
Bland comments that these numbers do not distinguish between combatants and civilians; But approximately 70% of them are women and children. About 7,000 others are reported to be missing, most of whom are likely dead.
On the other hand, the Israeli army says that 174 soldiers were killed in Gaza and 1,023 others were injured.
Internal displacement
Given the scale of the crisis, it is difficult to claim that the numbers related to the number of internally displaced people are accurate, but estimates by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) indicated that 1.9 million people were internally displaced due to the war in Gaza, or approximately 85% of the population.
About 1.4 million of them are taking refuge in UNRWA facilities, and most of the rest are staying with friends, family or strangers, or sleeping outdoors. About one million people – half of Gaza’s population – now live in and around the southern border area of Rafah, up from about 280,000 people before the outbreak of war.
Only about 1,100 people were allowed to leave Gaza through the Rafah crossing into Egypt by early December, according to estimates by the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington.
Destruction
Figures from the government information office in Gaza estimate that about 65,000 housing units have been destroyed or are no longer habitable. Another 290,000 homes were damaged, meaning that about half a million people no longer have a home to shelter in.
Critical infrastructure
While 500,000 people do not have a home, many more will remain displaced due to the extent of the destruction of vital public facilities in Gaza.
The World Health Organization says that 23 out of 36 hospitals had become completely inoperable by January 3.
Gaza’s education system has also been severely damaged; 104 schools were destroyed or severely damaged. Overall, about 70% of school buildings were damaged, while existing buildings are largely being used to shelter internally displaced people.
Due to the shortage of water suitable for human consumption, conditions have become ripe for the spread of diseases, as more than 100,000 cases of diarrhea have been reported since mid-October, half of them among children under the age of five.
Humanitarian aid
For two weeks after the start of the war, no humanitarian aid – including food – was allowed into Gaza at all. However, aid began to flow gradually as the war continued.
According to UNRWA statistics, 20 trucks entered the Gaza Strip daily during the last ten days of October, 85 trucks daily in November, and 104 daily in December. But these numbers are still far below the pre-war rate, which was 500 trucks per day.
It is difficult to distribute humanitarian aid due to the Israeli bombing, which killed 142 UNRWA workers, and damaged 128 of the organization’s buildings.