HQ Team
January 23, 2024: The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has estimated the death toll in the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict at 25,000, since the war began on October 7 last year.
“Intense” Israeli bombardment in Gaza continued on January 22 and rockets were fired into Israel by Palestinian armed groups, according to a statement from OCHA.
Some 62,681 Palestinians have been injured by Israeli strikes launched in retaliation for Hamas-led massacres in Israel that left some 1,200 dead and around 250 people taken hostage.
Two Israeli soldiers have also been killed and 1,203 others injured in Gaza since January 19 bringing the total death toll among soldiers to193 since the start of the ground operation, the OCHA citing Israeli military stated.
Statehood right
The same period saw 343 Palestinians killed and another 573 people injured, according to the UN aid coordination office.
Israeli and Palestinian foreign ministers are preparing to meet their European Union counterparts in separate private talks in Brussels, after UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the ongoing Gaza bloodshed as “heartbreaking and utterly unacceptable.”
“Israel’s military operations have spread mass destruction and killed civilians on a scale unprecedented during my time as Secretary-General,” Mr Guterres said, having earlier reiterated his support for a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians.
“The denial of the right to statehood for the Palestinian people would indefinitely prolong a conflict that has become a major threat to global peace and security, exacerbate polarization and embolden extremists everywhere,” he said.
Mr Guterres on January 21, while addressing a summit of the Group of 77 countries and China (G77) in the Ugandan capital Kampala, described the Middle East as “a tinderbox.”
Shortage of bread, communications cut
After more than three months of “intense” bombardment, only 15 bakeries were operational in Gaza — “six in Rafah and nine in Deir al Balah” — and none is open north of Wadi Gaza, according to the OCHA.
Telecommunications shutdowns had entered a seventh day, according to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.
“Disruption of telecommunication services prevents people accessing lifesaving information, calling first responders and continues to impede humanitarian response,” the UN agency said in a tweet on X, formerly Twitter.
In its latest update, UNRWA reported that 1.7 million people are now confirmed displaced within Gaza.
At least 335 of these internally displaced people have been killed while sheltering in the agency’s premises and 1,161 have been injured.
About 151 UNWRA staff were killed and 141 installations have been damaged since October 7.
