Hostilities in the Gaza Strip and Israel | Flash Update #10 [EN/AR/HE]

KEY POINTS

• As hostilities entered the tenth day, heavy Israeli bombardments on Gaza, from the air, sea and land, have continued almost uninterrupted. In the last 24 hours (as of 18:00), 108 Palestinians have been killed, bringing the cumulative fatality toll in the Gaza Strip to 2,778, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. Additional hundreds are missing and believed to be trapped under the rubble.

• Today (Monday), seven Civil Defense members were killed during an airstrike, bringing the total number of humanitarian staff killed while on duty to 31.

• In the wake of the Israeli order to evacuate the northern part of the Gaza Strip on 13 October, the number of internally displaced people (IDPs) since the start of hostilities may have reached one million, including about 333,000 IDPs staying in UNRWA schools in central and southern Gaza, in increasingly dire conditions.

• The siege of Gaza continues. The Rafah Crossing has remained closed, preventing the entry of desperately needed humanitarian aid, including food, water and medicines awaiting on the Egyptian side.

• Gaza has been under full electricity blackout for the sixth consecutive day. Hospitals are on the brink of collapse as their fuel reserves used to operate backup generators have been almost totally depleted, endangering the lives of thousands of patients.

• On Sunday, the Israeli authorities resumed partial water supply to the eastern Khan Younis area, providing less than four percent of the water consumed in the Gaza Strip prior to the hostilities. Given the collapse of virtually all water and sanitation services in Gaza, the UNICEF-led WASH Cluster stated that the population “is at imminent risk of death or infectious disease outbreak if water and fuel are not immediately allowed to enter the Strip.

• Palestinian armed groups in Gaza continued firing rockets indiscriminately towards Israeli population centres, including at the Tel Aviv and Jerusalem metropolitan areas. No Israeli fatalities were reported during the past 24 hours (as of 21:00).

• An almost full evacuation of Sderot city, in southern Israel, was completed yesterday (15 October). Smaller Israeli communities around Gaza had been fully vacated in previous days, while a large proportion of Ashqelon city’s residents have also reportedly left.

• In the West Bank, since Sunday afternoon, Israeli forces killed one Palestinian, bringing the fatality toll by Israeli forces since 7 October to 53 Palestinians, including 14 children.

• According to the Israeli military, at least 199 people are held captive in Gaza, including Israelis and foreign nationals. On 16 October, UN’s emergency relief chief Martin Griffiths expressed deep concern about the deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza and about the fate of Israeli hostages, stressing that “they have to be let out straight away.”