Israel killed more Palestinians in 2023 than in any year since 1948

Israel killed more Palestinians in 2023 than in any year since 1948, when the Nakba (Catastrophe) started, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics said on Sunday. Of the 22,404 recorded killings of Palestinians last year, 22,141 have been killed since 7 October, 98 per cent of them in the Gaza Strip. The figure includes nearly 9,000 children and 6,450 women. At least 319 Palestinians have been martyred in the Israeli-occupied West Bank since 7 October, including 111 children and four women.

Over 7,000 Palestinians have been reported missing in Gaza, 67 per cent of them children and women, while nearly 1.9 million have been internally displaced in the coastal enclave. The total population of the territory stands at 2.3m, almost half of whom are children.

Israel has targeted civilian infrastructure during its offensive against the Palestinians in Gaza. At least 65,000 housing units have been destroyed completely, while 290,000 have been partially destroyed since 7 October. Moreover, 100 journalists have been targeted and killed; doctors and other medical staff, as well as hospitals, have also been targeted deliberately by Israel.

The Palestinian Commission of Prisoners’ and Ex-Prisoners’ Affairs has confirmed that Israel was holding 7,800 Palestinian prisoners as at the end of November, including 76 women and 260 children. The number of administrative detainees held without charge or trial stands at 2,870.

According to data from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), more than 745,000 Jewish settlers were living in 151 settlements built on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem at the end of 2022. All of Israel’s settlements and the settlers who live in them are illegal under international law.

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