2023-2024 Hostilities and Escalating Violence in the oPt | Account of Events

This account of events is based on available and verified facts at the time of writing. The page reflects developments in the time period from 7 October 2023 until 7 January 2024.  

A detailed legal brief on the 2023-2024 hostilities in Israel and Gaza, covering the time period from 7 October until 8 November 2023, is available here. All material relevant to the 2023-2024 hostilities can be found on this page.

On the day of the initial attack, shortly before 11 am local time, Israel launched a large-scale counteroffensive on the Gaza Strip, with Prime Minister Netanyahu proclaiming that the country is “at war”; the government declared a state of war the following day. Ever since, the Israeli military has been carrying out heavy, near-constant, “unprecedented” bombardment of Gaza.  

Over 22,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed and more than 58,000 others injured, according to reports by the Gaza Ministry of Health.  

The Israeli military has asserted that it is targeting the political and military leadership of Hamas, with a military spokesperson claiming on 8 October that “Israeli intelligence indicates that Hamas are hiding among Gazan civilians, inside Gazan homes and schools, hospitals and mosques”. Israel has hit high-rise buildings, including those housing apartments, the Rimal neighbourhood in Gaza City, the Jabalia and Shati refugee camps, and in close proximity to the Rafah crossing with neighbouring Egypt, amongst others, wreaking devastation; according to OCHA, “[e]ntire neighbourhoods have been destroyed”.  

There have also been reports about damage to hospitals, water and sanitation facilities, UNRWA and other UN buildings, telecommunications lines, schools and educational facilities, mosques, and churches, as well as fatal attacks on journalists, healthcare workers and ambulances, and humanitarian workers. A situation report from UNRWA, dated 15 October, observed that “[t]he number of killed is increasing. There are not enough body-bags for the dead in Gaza”. Around 100 persons were reportedly buried in a mass grave in Rafah “due to the lack of refrigerated space to store them until recognition procedures are conducted”, with OCHA raising “environmental and human indignity concerns related to the decomposition of the bodies”. It has also been reported that a hospital in Deir al-Balah has turned to using ice cream trucks as “makeshift morgues to supplement the overflowing hospital mortuaries”.  

On 10 October, an Israeli military spokesperson proclaimed that in his view the parliament and civilian ministries in Gaza constitute legitimate targets “if there’s a gunman firing rockets from there” and indicated a lesser “level of fidelity” as regards warnings given to civilians prior to an attack. On the same day, the military announced that “the emphasis is on damage, not precision” in the bombardment. Hamas has threatened to start executing hostages in retaliation for attacks resulting in civilian deaths that are carried out without warning. On 12 October, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported, and Amnesty International later reported as well, that the Israeli military has used white phosphorus, an incendiary weapon, prompting grave concerns about harm to civilians. The Israeli military has denied this claim. Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta, a British-Palestinian volunteer surgeon at Al-Shifa Hospital, has testified treating patients with burns that he deemed characteristic of exposure to white phosphorus.  

Israeli President Isaac Herzog suggested in relation to the 7 October attacks that “[i]t’s an entire nation out there that is responsible. It’s not true, this rhetoric about civilians … not aware, not involved, it’s absolutely not true. They could have risen up, they could have fought against that evil regime which took over Gaza in a coup d’état”. On 13 October, the Israeli army announced that it has conducted “localized raids within Gaza”. On the same day, Hamas reportedly fired a long-range missile towards the Galilee. On 14 October, the Israeli military said that it is getting ready for a new phase, including “significant ground operations”. On 17 October, Israel hit an UNRWA school in al-Maghazi refugee camp, killing at least six people, injuring dozens more, including UNRWA staff, and severely damaging the building. According to UNRWA, around 4,000 Gazans had been sheltering there, who “had and still have nowhere else to go”; UNRWA “provides the coordinates of its facilities to relevant parties on a daily basis”.  

On 19 October, the Israeli military struck the Saint Porphyrius Greek Orthodox Church, where hundreds had reportedly been sheltering, with 16 killed according to the Gaza Health Ministry. In a statement dated 19 October, the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem condemned the airstrike, stressing that “targeting churches and their institutions, along with the shelters they provide to protect innocent citizens … constitutes a war crime that cannot be ignored”. On 20 October, Defence Minister Gallant announced that Israel’s military campaign in Gaza would culminate in “the creation of a new security regime in the Gaza Strip, the removal of Israel’s responsibility for life in the Strip and the creation of a new security reality for the citizens of Israel”. On 21 October, the Israeli military said that it would intensify its airstrikes on Gaza going forward. On 22 October, an Israeli soldier was reportedly killed during a raid in Gaza. On 25 October, it was reported that Hamas fired long-range rockets towards Haifa in Israel’s north and Eilat in the south. Hamas officials reportedly claimed that they would release no more hostages until there is a ceasefire. On 27 October, “landlines, cellular and internet services” were cut off across the Gaza Strip following a barrage of heavy Israeli airstrikes, with the main telecommunications tower reportedly having been hit.  

Bombardment and ground raids by the Israeli military into Gaza intensified despite repeated calls for a humanitarian ceasefire, with Chief of Staff Herzl Halevi reportedly declaring on 28 October that “the objectives of the war require a ground operation”. On the same day, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu gave a public address confirming “the widening of the ground invasion” as part of a new phase in the hostilities, which he referred to as Israel’s “second war of independence”. Netanyahu also proclaimed: “You must remember what Amalek has done to you, says our Holy Bible, and we do remember, and we are fighting”, invoking reference to the Amalekites, a biblical archenemy of the Israelites, whom they were told to destroy and whose memory they were commanded to eradicate. Starting on 29 October, communications in Gaza were reportedly “gradually restored”, apparently following US pressure.  

On 30 October, Netanyahu emphatically rejected ever more frequent calls for a ceasefire. The following day, the Israeli military again struck the densely populated Jabalia refugee camp, “reportedly destroying an entire quarter with 30 residential buildings”, according to OCHA, and with dozens reported killed; further strikes on Jabalia took place on 1 November. Also on 1 November, telecommunications and internet services in Gaza were again interrupted over the span of several hours. The High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell Fontelles, said that building on the EU position that “Israel has the right to defend itself in line with international humanitarian law and ensuring the protection of all civilians”, he is “appalled by the high number of casualties following the bombing by Israel of the Jabalia refugee camp”. The Director of the UNRWA Representative Office in New York renewed the organization’s call for “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire” before the UN General Assembly’s Fourth Committee. The Israeli military announced that soldiers have reached “the gates of Gaza City”.  

On 2 November, several UN experts issued a statement warning that “the Palestinian people are at grave risk of genocide” and affirming that “[t]he Israeli airstrike on a residential complex in the Jabalia refugee camp is a brazen violation of international law – and a war crime”, amongst other points. On the same day, the Israeli military hit four UNRWA facilities sheltering almost 20,000 people, leaving at least 23 dead and dozens more injured. UNRWA released a video commemorating the 72 staff members who were killed between 7 October and 2 November, which “marks the largest loss of life of United Nations aid workers in such a short span of time”. On 3 November, Israel reportedly struck a convoy of ambulances en route to the Rafah crossing in close proximity to Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the point of origin, killing at least 13 persons and injuring 26 others. The Israeli military claimed to have targeted “a Hamas terrorist cell”; it was reported that the Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City and the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahia were hit as well. The WHO issued a statement emphasizing that “[a]ttacks on health care, including the targeting of hospitals and restricting the delivery of essential aid such as medical supplies, fuel, and water, may amount to violations of International Humanitarian Law”. On 4 November, the Israeli military reportedly struck the entrances of Al-Quds Hospital – serving as shelter to around 14,000 displaced persons – and Nasser Children’s Hospital, both in Gaza City.  

A doctor working for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) told reporters that medical staff have come up with the category “wounded child no surviving family” for the many orphaned children in Gaza. On 5 November, Amihai Eliyahu, Israel’s Heritage Minister, suggested in a radio interview that dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza is an option, later seemingly walking back the remark and claiming on social media that it was “metaphorical”; he was suspended indefinitely from participation in cabinet meetings. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with PA President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, who expressed the PA’s willingness to “assume … responsibilities within the framework of a comprehensive political solution that includes all of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip”. Hamas reportedly said that over 60 hostages are unaccounted for due to Israeli airstrikes.  

The Israeli military announced on 5 November that its forces have completed a division of the Gaza Strip into a northern and a southern part and encircled Gaza City in the north. On the same day, an Inter-Agency Standing Committee representing various UN agencies and humanitarian organizations released a statement expressing “shock and horror at the spiralling numbers of lives lost and torn apart”, both in Israel during the initial attacks by armed groups and in the Gaza Strip, where the “entire population is besieged and under attack, denied access to the essentials for survival, bombed in their homes, shelters, hospitals and places of worship” and 88 UNRWA staff have been killed, marking “the highest number of United Nations fatalities ever recorded in a single conflict”. It ends: “We need an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. It’s been 30 days. Enough is enough. This must stop now”. On 11 November, the building of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Gaza City was reportedly hit. On 12 November, the Israeli navy struck and caused severe damage to an UNRWA guesthouse in Rafah south of Gaza.  

The Israeli army continued its advance on Gaza City, with soldiers reportedly moving into Al-Rantisi Children’s Hospital; according to OCHA, as of 13 November all hospitals in the north of Gaza except one – Al-Ahli Hospital, which was under severe strain – had ceased operations due to a lack of electricity and essential supplies, as well as airstrikes and fighting nearby. Israeli forces were reportedly closing in on Gaza’s largest hospital, Al-Shifa; on 12 November, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that the hospital had been without water and electricity for three days. OCHA said on 13 November that since 11 November 32 patients at Al-Shifa Hospital had reportedly died, among them three premature babies; amidst the power outage and lack of oxygen, other newborns were moved from incubators in the neonatal care unit, “wrapped in foil[,] and placed next to hot water in a desperate bid to keep them alive”.  The Gaza Ministry of Health said that on 14 November 40 patients at Al-Shifa Hospital died. On the same day, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Health reported that Palestinians inside Al-Shifa Hospital started digging a mass grave; over 100 persons were reportedly buried there, according to the Ministry. There have been reports of stray dogs feeding on unburied bodies. Heavy fighting was also reported around Al-Quds Hospital. Overall, hundreds of thousands of people reportedly remained in the north of Gaza amidst intensifying hostilities.  

On 18 November, a WHO-led team reportedly conducted a “high-risk” humanitarian assessment at Al-Shifa Hospital, which they called a “death zone”. On the same day, the Israeli military reportedly struck Al-Fakhouri school in Jabalia and Tal Az-Za’atar school in Beit Lahia, killing at least 24 (according to UNRWA) and more than 50 (according to media reports), respectively. On 19 November, 31 premature babies at Al-Shifa Hospital were evacuated to a hospital in Rafah, south Gaza, alongside staff and companions; 5 others had reportedly died in the preceding days because of the electricity blackout and lack of fuel. Also on 19 November, an Israeli strike killed Belal Jadallah, a veteran journalist and founder and chairman of the Gaza Press House. On 20 November, an attack by the Israeli military reportedly hit the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahia for the fifth time since the start of the hostilities, leaving at least 12 people killed, including patients. The WHO said in a statement that “[h]ealth workers and civilians should never have to be exposed to such horror, and especially [not] while inside a hospital”. The following day – 21 November – Al-Awda Hospital in the north of Gaza was struck, reportedly killing four persons, including three doctors, and injuring many patients. On 23 November, reports emerged that the Israeli military arrested the director of Al-Shifa Hospital and handed him over to the Shin Bet.  

On 24 November, after the temporary humanitarian pause entered into effect, Israeli forces reportedly opened fire and threw teargas canisters on persons attempting to travel to the area north of Wadi Gaza – the Israeli military allegedly having interdicted movement to the north – killing at least one and injuring dozens. Also during the humanitarian pause, a Gazan journalist reportedly entered Al-Nasr Children’s Hospital, where he found “[t]he decomposing bodies of … four babies” who had been in the neonatal intensive care unit when Israeli troops encircled the facility and forced those inside to leave, threatening to bomb the hospital, according to the director. On 30 November, +972 Magazine published the results of an investigation into the conduct of Israel’s heavy aerial attacks on Gaza, citing Israeli military and intelligence sources, amongst others; the article notes that “[t]he Israeli army’s expanded authorization for bombing non-military targets, the loosening of constraints regarding expected civilian casualties, and the use of an artificial intelligence system to generate more potential targets than ever before, appear to have contributed to the destructive nature of the initial stages” of the hostilities. Many libraries, museums, and cultural sites in Gaza have been destroyed. In a report published in November 2023, the organization Heritage for Peace documented partial damage to or total destruction of more than 100 cultural heritage sites.  

With the resumption of hostilities on 1 December, heavy Israeli bombardment throughout the Gaza Strip continued. Ground forces reportedly advanced on the south of Gaza, including Gaza’s second-largest city, Khan Younis. A video emerged in Israeli media depicting a powerful explosion ripping through Gaza’s main courthouse, the Palace of Justice. An internet and communications blackout in north Gaza was again reported by Paltel, a local telecommunications provider, on 4 December. Intense fighting was also reported around Jabalia. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that the organization had relocated medical supplies stored in Khan Younis to Rafah, following an earlier request by the Israeli military to do so, which “resulted in a postponement of the planned delivery of medicines” to UNRWA and MSF. The Israeli military reportedly dropped leaflets in the Arabic language in Khan Younis, which quote a passage from the Qur’an referring to the prophet Noah: “The flood overtook them, while they persisted in wrongdoing”.  

The BBC has verified a video that depicts the Great Omari Mosque in Gaza City, which dates back to the 7^th century, reduced to rubble; only the minaret remains standing. Hamas said that the damage stems from Israeli bombardment of the mosque. According to the WHO, Al-Awda Hospital in Jabalia “has been under siege since 5 December”, with at least 250 people still inside; two of its medical staff were reportedly killed on 9 December. Attacks were also reported in the vicinities of hospitals in Khan Younis.  

Photographs emerged of scores of Palestinian men detained by the Israeli military in Beit Lahia; they had reportedly been sheltering in a school there and were depicted sitting on the ground with their hands tied behind their backs and stripped to their underwear, which caused outrage. They were later brought to an unknown location. Official Israeli sources said that potential ties of the detained with Hamas were being investigated. While it had initially been claimed that some of the detainees were Hamas fighters who had surrendered, several civilians were soon identified in the images. According to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, 153 women in Gaza have been detained by the Israeli military, some of them pregnant or with babies, and the vast majority since the end of the temporary humanitarian pause.  

Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia was reportedly encircled by the Israeli military, with fighting taking place in close proximity; on 11 December, the hospital’s maternity unit was struck, killing two patients and injuring several other persons. Around 3,000 displaced persons were reportedly sheltering there amidst “extreme shortages of water, food and power”. The hospital was raided on 12 December, with the Israeli military reportedly arresting more than 70 medical staff, including the hospital director. The troops withdrew from the hospital on 16 December. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, writing on X (formerly Twitter), condemned “the effective destruction of Kamal Adwan hospital … rendering it non-functional and resulting in the death of at least 8 patients”, “several [of whom] died due to lack of adequate health care, including a 9-year-old child”. Reports by hospital staff and patients later emerged which describe Israeli forces “desecrat[ing] the bodies of dead patients with bulldozers, let[ting] a military dog maul a man in a wheelchair, and [shooting] multiple doctors even after vetting them for terror links”.  

The WHO released a statement on 12 December stating that one patient died on 9 December during a mission to evacuate patients in critical condition from Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City – which was barely functional, with medical staff, many of them volunteers, “treating many serious cases in the hospital’s corridors, on the floor, in the hospital chapel, and even in the street” – to Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis. In Gaza City, an aid truck and an ambulance were reportedly hit by bullets, and staff of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) were detained on two occasions at the Wadi Gaza checkpoint – during the initial travel north, and upon the convoy’s return. In the second instance, one PRCS staff member “was harassed, beaten, threatened, stripped of his clothes and blindfolded”; upon his release, he “was left to walk towards the south with his hands still tied behind his back, and without clothes or shoes”. Six staff working for both the Gaza Health Ministry and PRCS were detained at Al-Shifa Hospital on 18 November, during a WHO-led mission; four of them reportedly remained in detention as of 12 December, with their whereabouts unknown.  

The Wall Street Journal reported on 12 December that the Israeli military had begun the process of flooding Hamas’ underground tunnel network with seawater, quoting comments by US officials. Between 14 and 18 December, when services were partially restored in the south, another telecommunications blackout was reported. On 15 December, Al Jazeera reported that its cameraman Samer Abudaqa succumbed to his wounds after being injured in an Israeli drone attack alongside Wael Al-Dahdouh, Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief, in Khan Younis; he reportedly “bled to death because a heavy bombardment prevented paramedics from reaching him”. 

On 16 December, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released a statement detailing reports of “mass detentions, ill-treatment and enforced disappearance of possibly thousands of Palestinian men and boys, and a number of women and girls” by the Israeli military in the north of Gaza. The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said that also on 16 December, two women, mother and daughter, were shot and killed on the grounds of the Holy Family Church in Gaza City, while others were injured, drawing strong condemnation from Pope Francis.  

On 17 and 18 December, Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City was hit multiple times, resulting in 62 persons, including children, killed while others were shot and injured. On 18 December, Israeli raids took place near Al-Awda Hospital in Jabalia; all males over the age of 16 at the hospital were reportedly “arrested, stripped, bound and interrogated”, six of whom, including the hospital director, remained in detention, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health and hospital officials. The Ministry of Health further said that Al-Ahli Hospital was raided on 19 December. On the same day, over 100 persons were reportedly killed in a strike on a multistorey building in the Al-Rimal neighbourhood of Gaza City. 

On 20 December, OHCHR reported that it had confirmed the killings of 11 unarmed Palestinian men in the Al-Rimal neighbourhood of Gaza City, the exact circumstances of which were reportedly still subject to verification. According to reports by witnesses cited in the media and the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, Israeli forces gained control of a building where several families were sheltering, separated the men from the women and children, and summarily shot at least 11 of the men in front of their family members; some of the women and children were seriously injured when Israeli forces either shot at them or threw a grenade into the room they had been ordered to move to. Between 20 and 21 December, another telecommunications blackout was reported. On 24 December, Al-Maghazi refugee camp was struck, leaving at least 70 persons killed and many more injured. On 27 and 28 December, strikes hit the areas around Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis, killing 41 people and injuring several others.  

On 1 January 2024, it was announced that Israel would withdraw some of its forces from Gaza. On 2, 3, and 4 January, Israel repeatedly struck in and around Al-Amal Hospital, where around 14,000 displaced persons had been sheltering, and the PRCS in Khan Younis, killing seven persons, including a five-day-old baby, and injuring 11 others, according to the PRCS. The attacks drew sharp condemnation from OCHA and the WHO. On 4 January, a missile attack reportedly hit Al-Mawasi killing three, amongst them a 10-year-old girl, and injuring five; Al-Mawasi had been designated as a “safe area” by the Israeli military, with Gaza residents having been urged repeatedly to move there.  

On 7 January 2024, two journalists – Hamza Al-Dahdouh, who was the son of Wael Al-Dahdouh, and Mustafa Thuraya – were killed in southern Gaza when a missile struck the vehicle they were travelling in. The CPJ called for an investigation into the circumstances of their deaths, and in particular a determination of whether the strike was targeted. Al Jazeera previously reported that several members of Wael Al-Dahdouh’s family, including his wife and one-year-old grandson, were killed on 25 October in an Israeli strike on their place of shelter in Nuseirat refugee camp. 

Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah – the only hospital that was still operational in the eponymous governorate as of 7 January – has been affected by fighting and “evacuation orders”, forcing staff and hundreds of patients to relocate; their whereabouts remain unknown, according to the hospital director. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described “sickening scenes of people of all ages being treated on blood-streaked floors and in chaotic corridors. An unidentified child laid dead, partially covered by a sheet, on a bed. Other injured were prostrate on the floor, being stepped over by the health staff and families. A man’s harrowing groans, either from pain or anguish, cut through the emergency ward’s commotion”. He concluded: “The bloodbath in Gaza must end”. 

The destruction of homes and infrastructure, shortage of water, food, electricity, and fuel, as well as the threat of near-constant heavy bombardment has led to the displacement of an estimated 1.9 million Palestinians in Gaza, many of whom are sheltering in UNRWA facilities.  

On 10 October, Egypt closed the Rafah crossing to Gaza residents for an indefinite time period; the Israeli military had suggested previously that Gazans should leave through there to escape the bombardment, only to reverse course. From 8 October until 21 October, the Rafah crossing remained fully closed (with the Egyptian Foreign Ministry denying a closure and clarifying that the crossing was damaged by Israeli airstrikes). On 13 October, the Israeli military reportedly directed the more than 1 million residents of northern Gaza to move south, prompting concerns of an imminent land offensive and drawing international outrage. Gaza’s biggest hospital Al-Shifa is located in this area, in Gaza City. UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that “[m]oving more than one million people across a densely populated warzone … is extremely dangerous” and may not be “possible”, urging the Israeli authorities to “reconsider”, while numerous organizations, including the WHO, Amnesty International, and the United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF), called for the order to be rescinded with immediate effect. Many Palestinians fear a second Nakba, a majority of Gaza residents being refugees or descendants of refugees who were displaced during the 1948 war that led to the establishment of the State of Israel and concomitant mass exodus of over 700,000 Palestinians from their homes across Mandatory Palestine. One resident interviewed by Amnesty International remarked: “We went to sleep in 2023 and woke up in 1948”.  

UNRWA relocated its foreign staff and central operations centre to the south of Gaza, urging the Israeli military “to protect all civilians in UNRWA shelters including schools”. A spokesperson for the WHO said that moving critically ill patients from hospitals in north Gaza “is a death sentence” and that “[a]sking health workers to do so is beyond cruel”. On the same day, MSF reported being given two hours to “evacuate” Al-Awda Hospital in north Gaza, which was then postponed until 6 am local time on 14 October. Hamas reportedly instructed Gazans to “remain steadfast in [their] homes and to stand firm in the face of this disgusting psychological war waged by the occupation”. On 12 October, Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi had reportedly said that Palestinians in Gaza should “stay steadfast and remain on their land”. Gazans are seemingly left with two options: mass displacement, which for many of them calls to mind painful memories of the Nakba, or staying in their homes under bombardment.  

On 12 October, the ICRC warned that “[w]ithout electricity, hospitals risk turning into morgues”. UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini cautioned in similarly stark terms that Gaza is “becoming a hell hole and is on the brink of collapse”. On 14 October, the Israeli military announced that it would allegedly allow Gazans to safely travel southwards until 4 pm local time; thousands reportedly made their way south. There are indications that fleeing civilians may have come under attack. On 16 October, the EU announced that it is setting up an air bridge to transfer humanitarian supplies to Gaza via Egypt. King Abdullah II of Jordan indicated that neither his country nor Egypt are willing to host refugees from Gaza. On 18 October, the Israeli military published a call for the residents of northern Gaza “to evacuate towards the area of Al-Mawasi, south of Wadi Gaza”, where allegedly “international humanitarian aid will be provided as needed”.  

On 17 October, OCHA documented that fatalities from recent Israeli airstrikes have “included people moving southward in compliance with the Israeli military order to evacuate the northern Gaza Strip”; it was also reported that some of those who fled to the south of Gaza have been returning north because of ongoing airstrikes also in the south and lack of shelter. Hundreds of displaced Palestinians who wound up in Khan Younis in the south of Gaza are reportedly forced to live in tents provided by the UN, an image which for many is yet another painful reminder of the Nakba. A spokesperson for UNRWA stated that “[n]owhere today in Gaza is safe”. At a peace summit in Cairo, King Abdullah II of Jordan warned that “the forced or internal displacement of Palestinians would be a war crime”. PA President Mahmoud Abbas declared: “Ladies and gentlemen, we will not leave, we will not leave, we will not leave, and we will remain on our land”. 

On 21 October, an aid convoy consisting of 20 trucks entered via the Rafah crossing “for the first time since 8 October”; according to the Associated Press, “[m]ore than 200 trucks carrying 3,000 tons of aid have been waiting nearby for days”. The trucks carried more than 44,000 bottles of drinking water, reportedly sufficient for 22,000 people for one day, “60 metric tonnes of emergency food” provided by the WFP, as well as some medical supplies, for a total of (then) around 1.4 million displaced persons. Martin Griffiths, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, expressed the hope that “this delivery will be the start of a sustainable effort to provide essential supplies – including food, water, medicine and fuel – to the people of Gaza” who “have endured decades of suffering”. UN Secretary-General Guterres called for “a commitment for much, much more – a continuous delivery of aid to Gaza at the scale that is needed”. One aid worker quoted in The Guardian said that “what’s being delivered today is barely a drop in the ocean. Before this crisis began, around 500 aid trucks would normally cross the border every day providing a vital lifeline to millions of Gazans who were already facing a humanitarian crisis”. Also on 21 October, Israel reportedly doubled down on its relocation directives for the residents of northern Gaza; according to Politico, the military dropped leaflets in the area indicating that “[a]nyone who chooses not to evacuate from the North of the Gaza Strip to the South of the Gaza Strip may be identified as a partner in a terrorist organization”.  

On 22 October, a second aid convoy consisting of 14 trucks reportedly passed through the Rafah crossing into Gaza. There were reports about a third convoy on 23 October. On 27 October, it was reported that a first medical team comprised of international specialists was allowed to enter Gaza, alongside 10 trucks with aid. The afternoon of 28 October, while Gaza was under communications blackout, the Israeli military published an announcement on X (formerly Twitter) in English, calling upon the residents of north Gaza “to temporarily relocate south”, claiming that “[m]oving back to northern Gaza will be possible once the intense hostilities end” and that “your window to act is closing”. According to the PRCS, on 29 October the military requested that Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza be “immediately evacuate[d]”, prompting WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to warn that “it’s impossible to evacuate hospitals full of patients without endangering their lives”. OCHA reported as well that “[a]ll 13 hospitals still operational in Gaza city and northern Gaza have received repeated evacuation orders in recent days”, and that the Israeli military had reportedly struck the areas around Al-Quds and Al-Shifa Hospitals in Gaza City, as well as the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahia.  

On 1 November, more than 300 foreign passport holders and dozens of injured and sick persons were allowed to cross into Egypt via the Rafah crossing. On the same day, the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, the principal hospital in Gaza that offers cancer treatment, ceased operations reportedly after running out of fuel, according to Gazan health officials. An analysis conducted by the BBC corroborates that on at least three occasions, Israeli airstrikes hit in close proximity to “vaguely defined areas” that the military had directed Gaza residents to move to for their safety.  

On 2 November, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus published a video on X (formerly Twitter) describing the situation in Gaza. Observing that thousands have been killed since the start of the hostilities, he goes on to say: “It’s too late to help the dead now. But we can help the living. We can help those who live every moment in fear. We can help injured civilians. We can help the almost 200 women who are expected to deliver babies every day. We can help children and older people. We can help those with life-threatening diseases who need urgent medical care. The ultimate solution is one thing we can’t provide: peace”.  

On 3 November, the WHO said that “14 hospitals and 45 primary health care centres [in Gaza are] closed”, with devastating consequences for patients, in particular babies, children, and women, who are forced “to give birth in shelters, in their homes, in the streets amid rubble, or in overwhelmed healthcare facilities, where sanitation is worsening, and the risk of infection and medical complications is on the rise”. It has been reported that doctors perform emergency C-sections without anaesthetics; according to Al Jazeera Arabic, there have also been instances of women having to undergo hysterectomies to save their lives. On 5 November, telecommunications and internet services were reportedly cut again in Gaza. On 9 November, a WFP official warned that the entire population of Gaza is food insecure and faces severe risks of malnutrition. Strikes hitting bakeries and fishing boats have also been reported, threatening to further exacerbate food shortages. Attacks on and damage to solar panels, especially around Gaza City, have reportedly cut off “one of the remaining sources of energy for hospitals and water and food production”. 

On 7 November, the ICRC issued a statement condemning an attack on a humanitarian convoy – including two ICRC vehicles – en route to hospitals in Gaza City; the convoy eventually managed to reach Al-Shifa Hospital and dropped off medical supplies there. The head of the ICRC delegation in Gaza said that “[t]hese are not the conditions under which humanitarian personnel can work”. On 8 November, with the support of UNRWA, a WHO convoy reportedly delivered emergency medical supplies to Al-Shifa Hospital, marking “only the second delivery of lifesaving supplies to the hospital since the escalation of hostilities and the total siege of Gaza began”. On 10 November, around a dozen children suffering from cancer and blood diseases were evacuated through the Rafah crossing with Egypt in order to obtain treatment elsewhere, the health care system in Gaza having collapsed.  

While exact numbers cannot be given, it has been estimated that between 5 and 13 November around 200,000 Gazans moved south, many reportedly on foot, amidst reports about “[o]vercrowding and limited access to shelter, food and water, in the south”; hundreds of thousands reportedly remained in the north, who “are struggling to secure the minimum amount of water and food for survival”. On 16 November, telecommunications services reportedly broke down across Gaza due to lack of fuel. On the same day, the director of the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahia said that the hospital shut down all its functions, with patients in need of surgery reportedly left in the reception area.  

The Executive Director of the WFP warned in a statement dated 16 November that “[w]ith winter fast approaching, unsafe and overcrowded shelters, and the lack of clean water, civilians are facing the immediate possibility of starvation” and urged the opening of a second crossing to let aid pass through, echoing similar remarks by UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths. The Israeli authorities had reportedly turned down a proposal to allow for the passage of aid through the Kerem Shalom crossing. On 22 November, dozens of Palestinians were reportedly buried in a mass grave in Khan Younis, in the south of Gaza. The WHO has warned that more people in Gaza could succumb to infectious diseases than bombardment in light of an ever-deteriorating humanitarian situation and the collapse of the health system. 

On 1 December, following the collapse of the humanitarian pause, a map dividing the Gaza Strip into hundreds of different areas was published on the official website of the Israeli military, according to its title allegedly “to direct Gaza residents to evacuate targeted areas”. OCHA noted that it is not indicated where residents should evacuate to, and that “[i]t is unclear how those residing in Gaza would access the map without electricity and amid recurrent telecommunications cuts”. UNRWA Commissioner-General Lazzarini said on 5 December that more than 600,000 people in southern Gaza “are under evacuation orders” with “nowhere to go”. Tents for the displaced were reportedly set up in Rafah due to the overcrowding of shelters. On the basis of satellite images, HRW documented the systematic razing of farmland, greenhouses, and orchards by the Israeli military around Beit Hanoun, which stands to further exacerbate the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe and the grave risk of starvation. On 7 December, it was reported that the Israeli authorities agreed to open the Kerem Shalom crossing “to increase the capacity to inspect aid trucks, but not to allow aid into Gaza directly”.  

On 8 December, OCHA described the conditions in Rafah for tens of thousands displaced persons as follows: “[T]hey are subject to extreme overcrowded conditions with no empty space to shelter, not even in the streets … or other open areas. Thousands of people wait for hours in large crowds around aid distribution centres, in desperate need of food, water, shelter, health, and protection”. The BBC reported that Al-Mawasi, the area that the Israeli military had directed Gazans to move to over a dozen times, is “smaller than London’s Heathrow Airport”; one Gaza resident who moved to the area told the BBC that it is “neither humane nor safe”, with airstrikes taking place in close proximity and Israeli tanks being visible. Others said that water and electricity are only available sporadically, amidst a shortage of basic supplies. Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem said in a report dated 7 December that “[t]he humanitarian crisis currently underway in the Gaza Strip is not a side effect of the war, but the direct intended result of the policy implemented by Israel”, and that “[t]he people behind this policy see inflicting a humanitarian crisis on more than two million people as a legitimate way to put pressure on Hamas”.  

With intensifying Israeli attacks on the central governorate of Deir al-Balah and the southern governorate of Khan Younis, the southernmost Rafah governorate bordering Egypt has become “the main refuge for those displaced, with over one million people squeezed into an extremely overcrowded space”. The Israeli military reportedly kept issuing directives to leave for an ever-growing number of neighbourhoods, pushing Gaza residents into “ever smaller areas”. According to OCHA, between 1 December 2023 and early January 2024, such directives were issued for an area “estimated to cover 128 square kilometres south of Wadi Gaza alone (35 per cent of the Gaza Strip) and previously home to just over 1 million people (44 per cent of Gaza’s population)”. This includes the locations of dozens of hospitals and health facilities and over 100 shelters housing more than half a million displaced persons. 

As hostilities rage in Gaza and Israel, confrontations have been taking place between Israeli forces and Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank, including annexed East Jerusalem. Between 7 October 2023 and 7 January 2024, 326 Palestinians, amongst them 84 children, have been killed. 4,042 Palestinians have been injured, including 606 children. Five Israelis have been killed by Palestinians, four of them reportedly members of Israeli forces. The week of 9 to 15 October marked “the deadliest … for West Bank Palestinians since OCHA began recording casualties in 2005” (reported on 16 October). Throughout 2023, 507 Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, were killed, which constitutes “the highest number … since OCHA started recording casualties in 2005”.  

Hamas called for a ‘day of rage’ on 13 October; overnight and on this day alone, Israeli forces killed 13 Palestinians, amongst them four children and one woman, across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, most during protests. On 19 and 20 October, Israeli forces conducted an operation in Nur Shams refugee camp near Tulkarm in the northwestern West Bank. According to OCHA, 13 Palestinians, amongst them six children, were killed and 62 injured; one member of the Israeli forces was killed, and nine others were injured. The Israeli military reportedly struck the camp from the air; UNRWA documented extensive damage to homes and infrastructure. On 22 October, the Israeli military carried out an airstrike in Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank, citing an “imminent terror attack” being planned from a compound underneath Al-Ansar Mosque allegedly belonging to Hamas and PIJ operatives, which was hit; two people were reportedly killed. The strike marked “the first Israeli use of a warplane in the West Bank since the second intifada in the early 2000s”.  

On 25 October, it was reported that Israeli forces conducted another raid in Jenin refugee camp and carried out a drone strike, killing four Palestinians, including two children aged 15 and 17. On 9 November, OCHA reported that 13 Palestinians, amongst them one child, were killed by Israeli forces in Jenin refugee camp; during the raid, there were “armed clashes with Palestinians, and airstrikes, resulting in extensive infrastructure damage”. During an Israeli military raid in Tulkarm, reported on 14 November, seven Palestinians were killed; OCHA cited reports by medical sources that “during the operation, Israeli forces impeded the work of paramedics”. On 16 November, at a checkpoint near Bethlehem, three Palestinians reportedly opened fire at Israeli soldiers killing one and injuring three; they were then shot and killed by Israeli forces. On 17 November, reports emerged that three Palestinians were killed in an Israeli drone strike in Jenin. 

There have been reports about a sharp increase in applications for gun licenses amongst Israeli citizens, ultranationalist National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir having facilitated and expedited the process for obtaining licensing and gun ownership; furthermore, hundreds of armed civilian security squads have reportedly been set up to patrol the streets alongside the police. 

On 22 November, in Tulkarm refugee camp, six persons were reportedly killed during a raid “that involved armed clashes with Palestinians and Israeli airstrikes, resulting in extensive infrastructure and residential damage”. On the same day, Israeli forces shot and killed a 14-year-old child near Nablus. On 25 November, an armed group in the West Bank claimed to have killed two Palestinian men whom they accused of collaborating with Israel. On 29 November, Israeli forces killed four Palestinians, including two children aged eight and 15, in Jenin refugee camp; Palestinian medical sources reportedly said that the forces “impeded the work of paramedics, denied access to a hospital, and arrested an injured person while paramedics were transferring him into a hospital”. On 30 November, three Israelis were killed in a shooting attack in West Jerusalem, which was reportedly claimed by Hamas; the two assailants were shot and killed. A fourth Israeli who reportedly tried to intervene and shot at the assailants was himself mistaken for an assailant, shot by a soldier, and later succumbed to his injuries.  

On 2 December, a 14-year-old child who allegedly tried to stab a soldier was shot and killed by Israeli forces near Nablus; Palestinian medical sources said that Israeli forces prevented the evacuation of his body. On 4 December, Israeli forces conducted raids in Qalqilya and Qalandia refugee camp, killing three Palestinians and injuring 32 others, amongst them four children. A video emerged of an Israeli soldier shooting and injuring a Palestinian man near Hebron, despite a bystander reportedly telling the soldiers that the man has special needs. On 6 December, Israeli forces reportedly killed two Palestinians, one of them a child, and injured six others in two separate operations in Tubas Governorate. On 8 December, six Palestinians, including one child, were killed by Israeli forces in Far’a refugee camp near Tubas.  

On 12 December, Israeli forces killed five Palestinians in the course of an operation in Jenin and Jenin refugee camp, four of them in a drone strike; two other Palestinians, amongst them a 13-year-old child, reportedly “died after their access to medical care and hospitalization was impeded during the incident”. The operation lasted for a period of around 60 hours, until 14 December, and the total number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces rose to 11, including three children, one of whom was shot and killed on the premises of a hospital, according to eyewitness accounts and the Palestinian Ministry of Health, while dozens were injured. During the operation, large swathes of infrastructure were damaged and hundreds of Palestinians were reportedly arrested; Reuters verified footage depicting an Israeli soldier singing a Jewish prayer inside a mosque. On 27 December, Israeli forces carried out a drone strike in Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarm, reportedly killing six Palestinians, amongst them two children, and injuring two others.  

Also on 27 December, OHCHR released a report on the human rights situation in the occupied West  Bank, including East Jerusalem, covering the time period from 7 October until 20 November 2023. The report documents “an increase in the use of military tactics and weapons in law enforcement contexts, the use of unnecessary or disproportionate – and therefore unlawful – force to suppress Palestinian protests and to enforce broad movement restrictions imposed on discriminatory grounds”, “[m]ass arbitrary detentions and consequential unlawful detentions, and reported torture and other ill-treatment of Palestinians”, as well as a sharp increase in settler violence and related displacement of Palestinian communities, resulting in an ever-more “coercive environment” in which “Palestinians live in constant terror of the discriminatory use of State force and settler violence against them”.  

On 2 and 3 January 2024, Israeli forces operated in Nur Shams refugee camp, reportedly injuring several Palestinians and inflicting damage to homes and infrastructure. On 6 January, it was reported that during a raid in Jenin, one member of Israeli forces was killed when a military vehicle was attacked with explosives; seven Palestinians, amongst them a 17-year-old child and four brothers, were killed in subsequent Israeli airstrikes. On 7 January, Israeli forces shot and killed three Palestinians, including a three-year-old girl, close to a checkpoint near Jerusalem; one Palestinian man was killed in a shooting attack on a bypass road in the West Bank, having reportedly been mistaken for a settler.  

Israel’s ultranationalist Finance Minister and Minister in the Defence Ministry Bezalel Smotrich reportedly said that there are “two million Nazis” in the West Bank, while Prime Minister Netanyahu has been sounding the message that only he can prevent the establishment of a Palestinian State.  

There have been increasing reports of Israeli police detaining East Jerusalemites and Palestinian citizens of Israel over social media posts and students and employees being suspended or dismissed. Other concerning measures such as a de facto ban on demonstrations against the war or in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, and threats directed specifically against Palestinian lawyers and Knesset members have been reported as well; on 15 November, parliamentarian Aida Touma-Sliman of the Hadash party published a video on X (formerly Twitter) in which she stated that she had been suspended from participation in the Knesset plenary and committee sessions by the Knesset’s Ethics Committee for two months, reportedly over her stance regarding the war.  

On 8 November, the Knesset amended the Counter-Terrorism Law of 2016, which contains numerous broad and open-ended provisions that have been criticized since the law’s inception seven years ago. The amendment criminalizes “systematic and continuous consumption of publications of a terrorist organization under circumstances that indicate identification with the terrorist organization” and specifically lists Hamas and the so-called ‘Islamic State’ for this purpose.  

Also on 8 November, Amnesty International reported a sharp uptick in the number of Palestinians arbitrarily detained by Israel and detailed instances of detainees being subjected to torture and severe ill-treatment, which is a longstanding issue of concern; in one instance, a female prisoner was reportedly threatened with rape. OHCHR said on 1 December that over 3,000 Palestinians had been arrested since 7 October, and as of 1 January 2024 the number of administrative detainees – i.e., those held without charge or trial – stands at 3,291, according to human rights organization HaMoked, while the total number of so-called “security inmates” is 8,600.  

OHCHR also said on 1 December that six Palestinian detainees have died in Israeli custody, amidst reports of “mass beatings” of prisoners. The head of the PA Commission for Prisoners’ Affairs told Reuters that autopsies of deceased prisoners revealed signs of torture and medical neglect; hundreds more “were wounded after being severely beaten, their limbs and ribs broken and their bodies bruised”. On 2 January 2024, Palestinian sources reported that a seventh Palestinian prisoner, aged 23 and hailing from Nablus, had died in Megiddo prison in northern Israel. His family said that he was tortured in custody.  

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club documented that over 260 Palestinians were newly arrested during the humanitarian pause, while the prisoners’ release was ongoing. According to witness testimony of a Palestinian released during the pause, one detainee, Thaer Abu Assab, was beaten to death: “He was tortured because of a question; he asked the warden whether there was a truce. Then he got beaten to death”. Another detainee released during the pause also said that Abu Assab was beaten severely, left lying on the ground bleeding, and succumbed to his injuries.  

On 7 December, a group of human rights organizations registered in Israel warned of “systemic torture and inhumane treatment of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prison facilities since October 7”. Other ill-treatment inflicted on Palestinian detainees, in addition to severe beatings, reportedly includes sexual assault and harassment; humiliating treatment; and threats and intimidation to prevent abuse from being reported. Family visits and visits by the ICRC have reportedly been suspended, and detainees have been prevented from being in contact with their lawyers. Ultranationalist National Security Minister Ben-Gvir reportedly said during a prison visit that detainees were being subjected to “the strictest conditions”, and that “the Israeli national anthem would play on loudspeakers at all times”.  

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club and others reported that Marwan Barghouti, a Palestinian politician affiliated with Fatah and currently imprisoned by Israel, was moved from Ofer prison in the West Bank to solitary confinement in another facility; he reportedly petitioned an Israeli court against his detention conditions and ill-treatment he says he suffered at the hands of prison authorities.  

On 9 November, Mohammad Barakeh, the Chairman of the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee, was arrested reportedly over plans to hold a demonstration against the Gaza war in Nazareth. Three former members of the Knesset and the Director-General of the Balad party – like Barakeh, all Palestinian citizens of Israel – were detained as well, reportedly when they gathered at the site of the planned protest.  

There are also serious concerns over the physical safety and well-being of Gazans who used to work in Israel, around 4,000 of whom (figure quoted by the Israeli media) were reportedly detained by the Israeli authorities after their work permits were revoked in the wake of the 7 October attacks. Testimonies indicate that persons in detention have been subjected to ill-treatment; some were reportedly held incommunicado and had their belongings confiscated. On 3 November, following an Israeli cabinet decision, more than 3,000 Gazans were reportedly sent back to the Gaza Strip via the Kerem Shalom crossing; others reportedly remain detained by Israel. On 6 November, it was reported that two Gazan workers detained at the Ofer and Anatot bases, respectively, died in custody; their bodies are reportedly still being held by the Israeli military, which has not opened an investigation into their deaths. Middle East Eye has reported that a third worker died on the way back to Gaza. Overnight from 9 to 10 November, another 982 workers were reportedly sent back to Gaza via Kerem Shalom, and 300 others were returned on 28 November. On 3 January 2024, HRW reported as well that Gaza workers were being kept in incommunicado detention by Israel, with reports of mistreatment abounding; it is estimated that thousands more are still in the West Bank “without valid legal status and vulnerable to arrest”.  

A Ha’aretz report, also published on 3 January and citing figures from HaMoked, said that 661 Palestinians from Gaza were being held in Israeli prisons, excluding an unknown number detained at the Sde Teiman military base near Be’er Sheva, where detainees are reportedly being subjected to beatings and other severe abuse and ill-treatment while being denied medical care; according to reports, several of them have died in custody. Many are held pursuant to the so-called “Unlawful Combatants Law”, which was first adopted in 2002 and has been criticized for falling short of international human rights standards. Following a legislative amendment in December, a detention order for persons detained under this Law must only be issued within 45 days of their arrest, and they must be brought before a judge within 75 days; detainees can be prevented access to a lawyer for up to 180 days by means of a court order to this effect.  

+972 Magazine, in cooperation with Local Call, conducted interviews with several Gazan civilians who were detained by the Israeli military and examined video testimonies available in Arabic media, all of which point to “systematic abuse and torture by Israeli soldiers against all of the detainees, civilians and combatants alike”. This includes reports that Israeli forces “subjected Palestinian detainees to electric shocks, burned their skin with lighters, spat in their mouths, and deprived them of sleep, food, and access to bathrooms until they defecated on themselves”. Others “were tied to a fence for hours, handcuffed, and blindfolded for most of the day”, “beaten all over their bodies[,] and ha[d] cigarettes extinguished on their necks or backs”.  

Access and movement restrictions for residents of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, such as “closures, checkpoints and roadblocks”, have been reported as well, especially around the so-called ‘Seam Zone’ (i.e., the area east of the ‘Green Line’ and west of the ‘Separation Barrier’) and in areas close to Israeli settlements. Since the start of hostilities, dozens of additional checkpoints and road blocks have reportedly been set up, and crossing from the West Bank into Jerusalem has been rendered much more difficult. According to B’Tselem, hundreds of Palestinian families in the H2 (Israeli-controlled) area of Hebron have been subjected to a curfew since 7 October, and only since 21 October have they been allowed to “leave home on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening” while having to cross military checkpoints – an intrusive and time-consuming process that risks leaving residents stranded outside their homes. As a result, public and commercial life has reportedly all but grinded to a halt. The Israeli bank account of the Israeli human rights organization Gisha, which focuses on access and movement restrictions in Gaza, was reportedly frozen. 

There have also been reports about continued and intensifying attacks by violent settlers, with 381 attacks in total documented since 7 October, out of which 36 resulted in casualties, 297 in property damage, and 48 in both.  

In one instance, five Palestinians (amongst them one child) were killed by settlers in Qusra, near Nablus; settlers also threatened the entire village. On 12 October, Israeli soldiers and settlers reportedly detained three Palestinians over the course of several hours, handcuffed them, stripped them to their underwear, subjected them to severe beatings, and photographed them, amongst other ill-treatment. They also detained, handcuffed, and threatened Israeli activists, who were let go after three hours; some were also beaten. On 13 October, it was reported that a settler shot a Palestinian at point blank near Hebron, with an Israeli soldier standing by.  

OCHA estimates that settler violence, threats thereof, and access restrictions have led to the displacement of 1,208 Palestinians, amongst them 586 children, from at least 15 herding communities. 95 Palestinians, amongst them 42 children, have been displaced due to punitive home demolitions; 444 others, including 224 children, have been displaced because of demolitions carried out on the grounds of an alleged lack of permits. 587 Palestinians, amongst them 257 children, have been displaced as a result of damage to homes inflicted during other operations by Israeli forces, notably in the Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nur Shams refugee camps.  

On 28 October, a settler reportedly shot and killed a Palestinian who had been harvesting olives. On 29 October, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement condemning violent attacks by settlers and calling upon the Israeli authorities to protect the affected Palestinian communities. On the same date, a group of civil society organizations registered in Israel published a joint letter urging “clear, strong and direct intervention by the international community” in light of the settler violence, which they argue the Israeli government has failed to rein in and supports. US President Biden has also condemned the surge in settler violence in the West Bank. 

On 1 November, it was reported that Zvi Sukkot, an ultranationalist Knesset member from the Religious Zionism party who resides in the settlement of Yitzhar near Nablus, has been slated to become chairman of a subcommittee on the West Bank, having been appointed to the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee of the Knesset on 30 October. On 9 November, the General Assembly adopted a resolution with a vote of 145 States in favour, 7 against, and 18 abstentions affirming that Israeli settlements in the oPt, including East Jerusalem, and the Syrian Golan are illegal under international law, and urging Israel “to investigate all acts of settler violence against Palestinian civilians and their properties and to ensure accountability for these acts and end prevailing impunity in this regard”, amongst other points. On 19 November, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, wrote on X (formerly Twitter): “We condemn the unacceptable violence by extremists in the West Bank … A two-state solution is the only way to achieve peace”. On 2 December, armed settlers attacked a town near Salfit, shooting at houses and throwing stones and Molotov cocktails; one Palestinian was killed either by settlers or by Israeli soldiers, who were reportedly present at the scene and accompanying the former.  

In the Armenian Quarter in Jerusalem’s Old City, a controversial lease agreement between the Armenian Patriarchate and a company allegedly linked to settler interests – which the former has meanwhile sought to cancel – has prompted recurring demonstrations; the company has reportedly sent bulldozers to the site on multiple occasions, and in one instance a standoff ensued between protesters and Israeli settlers, some of them armed. On 28 December, it was reported that masked assailants attacked members of the Armenian community in the Armenian Quarter.  

On 5 December, US Secretary of State Blinken announced the imposition of a visa restriction policy for “individuals believed to have been involved in undermining peace, security, or stability in the West Bank, including through committing acts of violence or taking other actions that unduly restrict civilians’ access to essential services and basic necessities”. On 6 December, it was reported that settlers demolished a school in Zanuta in the southern West Bank, which had been constructed with the help of EU funds; an EU official sharply condemned the attack, which he called “intolerable and a violation of International Humanitarian Law”. On 7 November, Israeli ultranationalists conducted a march through the Old City of Jerusalem; some participants chanted incendiary slogans, and there were confrontations with the police.