This start of the year has been marked by numerous deadly strikes by the Israeli army in Gaza, where weather conditions continue to worsen the situation of displaced residents, adding cold to famine.
By Palestine Media Agency, January 3, 2025
KEY FIGURES
in Gaza since October 7, 2023:
45,581 deaths
including 17,000 children
11,000 people trapped under the rubble
108,438 injured
1.9 million displaced
A tragic New Year
“The New Year comes to Gaza, not with joy or hope, but with the din of fighter jets, drones and eardrum-shattering explosions,” says Al Jazeera journalist Tareq Abu Azzoum, from Deir el-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip.
The Israeli army murdered at least 26 Palestinians on New Year's Day. Among the victims are several children. The deadly attacks were reported on Wednesday in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, in the Bureij refugee camp and in Gaza City, in the central Gaza Strip, as well as in the town of Khan Younis , in the south of the Gaza Strip.
In Jabalia, a relative of several of the victims says that first responders are still looking for survivors. “The house turned into a pile of debris,” says Jibri Abu Warda. “It was a massacre, body parts of children and women were scattered everywhere. They were sleeping when the house was bombed. No one knows why they targeted the house. They were civilians. »
The civil defense agency said it was difficult to respond to distress calls from families due to intense Israeli bombardment in recent days. “People besieged in the incursion zones are suffering from a complete lack of livelihoods. The suspension of our services has completely affected the lives of citizens who are exposed to Israeli bombardments,” a civil defense member told Al Jazeera.
New massacre in Al Mawasi
On January 2, the Israeli army committed a new massacre in the humanitarian zone of Al Mawasi, although defined by the army itself as a “safe zone”. At least 15 people were murdered in the attack, including Gaza police chief Mahmud Salah and his deputy Hussam Shahwan, medical sources said.
Gaza's interior ministry condemned the killings, saying the two officers had “fulfilled their humanitarian and national duty by serving our people” and accusing Israel of spreading “chaos” and worsening “human suffering” in Gaza.
The attack was carried out without warning, even though this area is an encampment for civilians displaced by Israeli orders themselves. Philippe Lazzarini, director of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), denounced the attack. “At the start of the year, we were informed of a new attack in Al Mawasi which left dozens dead [et] injured. Another reminder that there is no humanitarian zone and even less a 'safe zone' [à Gaza] “, declared Mr. Lazzarini in a message on X. “Every day without a ceasefire will bring its share of tragedies”.
Later on Thursday, separate Israeli airstrikes killed at least four people on Jalaa Street in central Gaza City and two in the Zeitoun neighborhood, medics said. Another strike killed at least eight Palestinians in the central Gaza Strip. The victims were members of local committees who help secure aid convoys, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which received the bodies.
That same day, a total of 30 separate Israeli strikes were reported throughout the Palestinian enclave. The Gaza Ministry of Health announces that at least 71 Palestinians were murdered in this single day, including six at the headquarters of the Ministry of the Interior in Khan Younis, in the south of the Gaza Strip, three in the Shati camp, west of Gaza City, and at least seven in the Jabalia refugee camp, in the north of the Gaza Strip.
More than 800 babies killed before reaching their first birthday
On December 31, several Palestinian media published this sad figure: more than 800 Gazan infants have been killed by Israel before reaching their first birthday, since October 7, 2023. These poignant figures underline the catastrophic impact of the Israeli military campaign on the most vulnerable people in the Gaza Strip, with children most affected by the violence. More than 17,000 children have been killed by Israel in Gaza.
In addition to the violent bombings which directly target areas densely populated with civilians, there are displacements and famine, which further precarious the situation of Gazan families and threatens in particular the health of the most fragile. The cold and torrential rains risk claiming many lives, and children are even more at risk because their bodies lose heat more quickly. Since the start of this winter in Gaza, eight babies have died of cold, the conditions of tragic deprivation of the lives of the displaced in the makeshift camps and the absence of electricity making it impossible to warm them or resuscitate them.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) says it is “deeply alarmed” by the impact of freezing temperatures and heavy rains on displaced Palestinians in Gaza. As of mid-December, the Shelter Cluster – a group of UN, international and local humanitarian organizations – estimated that “at least 945,000 [Palestinien·nes] still needed urgent help to get through the winter, such as thermal clothing, blankets and tarpaulins to protect shelters from rain and cold.”
