Israel kills more than 8,000 Palestinians in Gaza: Palestinian Ministry of Health

CAIRO – 29 October 2023: The Israeli occupation forces have killed 8,064 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank since the start of its aggression on October 7, announced the Palestinian Ministry of Health in a statement on Sunday.

Seventy-three percent of the deaths are women and children, the ministry added.

A total of 7,950 Palestinians (including 1,903 children and 1,024 women) have been killed in the Gaza Strip by the ongoing Israeli airstrikes, while the number of the injured in the strip reached about 20,000 people, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health said.

In the West Bank, Israeli occupation forces killed 114 Palestinians and injured about 2,000, the ministry continued.

The ongoing Israeli shelling have also destroyed 260 medical facilities and 177,781 housing units since the outbreak of the war, the ministry further noted, clarifying that “these figures do not reflect reality because many victims are still under the rubble.”

In Gaza, 116 health personnel have been killed and more than 100 others wounded. In the West Bank, the WHO documented 118 attacks on health care sector affecting 99 ambulances and 67 on the delivery of health care.

“Acute shortage of fuel and electricity is seriously affecting the most critical functions at all hospitals and the ability of ambulances to respond. Fuel depletion risks the lives of injured patients; patients in intensive care, those requiring surgery, in addition to neonatal incubators and over 1,000 patients dependent on dialysis,” the ministry confirmed.

Additionally, the ministry called for blood donation and appealed the International Committee for Red Cross (ICRC) and WHO to supply blood units from the West Bank and Egypt.

On October 27, ten medical specialists (a war surgery team and a weapon contamination specialist) with ICRC entered Gaza through Rafah border crossing, the ministry announced.

At Shifa hospital alone the bed occupancy reached 171 percent, putting pressure on the staff.

The number of internally displaced Palestinians has been estimated at 1.4 million people, including 629,000 people sheltering in 150 UNRWA-designated emergency shelters, the ministry concluded.