More women and children have been killed in Gaza by the Israeli military than in any other contemporary conflict in a single year

Israeli military hit civilian infrastructure in Gaza, including schools, hospitals and places where aid organizations distribute food and aid, once every three hours, a new analysis by Oxfam shows.

In the past year in Gaza, more women and children have been killed than in a single year in any other conflict in the past 20 years. The regional escalation spreading violence and killing to Lebanon and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, underlines the urgent need for an immediate and permanent ceasefire.

Fidaa Shurrab, walks in front of a destroyed building in Gaza on her way to work as a project manager. Photo: Alef Multimedia

Conservative figures show that more than 6,000 women and 11,000 children have been killed in Gaza by the Israeli military in the last 12 months. Data from 2004-2021 on direct conflict deaths from the Small Arms Survey estimates that the highest number of women killed in a single year in Iraq was over 2,600 in 2016.

A report by the organization Every Casualty Counts examined information on over 11,000 children killed in the first 2.5 years of the Syrian conflict, averaging over 4,700 deaths per year. UN reports on children and armed conflict over the last 18 years show that no other conflict killed a higher number of children in one year.

Israel's military assault began last October, following attacks by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups. Almost 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals were killed, including at least 282 women and 36 children - the deadliest day in Israeli history. These targeted attacks constituted serious violations of international humanitarian law (IHL). More than 250 people, including 38 children, were taken hostage, 96 of whom are reported to still be held in Gaza.

Separate data from Action on Armed Violence up to September 23 shows that Israel has hit civilian infrastructure in Gaza once every three hours on average since the war began. Apart from the six-day humanitarian pause last November, there were only two days in the whole year without bombs.

Data - which is not comprehensive - shows that Israeli military hit on average:

- Home every four hours

- Tents and temporary shelters every 17 hours

- Schools and hospitals every four days

- Places where aid organizations distribute or store aid stocks every 15 days

Over the past year, Israel has committed serious violations of international humanitarian law at a level that could constitute crimes against humanity. This includes a level of destruction indicative of Israel's disproportionate use of force in relation to military targets, and a failure to distinguish between military targets and the civilian population. The Israeli military has relentlessly targeted infrastructure that is indispensable for the survival of civilians. Civilians have been forcibly displaced dozens of times to so-called 'safe zones' that fail to meet humanitarian commitments and have also been regularly bombed or attacked.

UN reports on children and armed conflict highlight in particular the number of Palestinian children killed in Gaza and the West Bank. Over five times more children were killed in Gaza in the last year than between 2005 and 2022.

The high number of women and children killed in Gaza does not include the nearly 20,000 people who are either unidentified, missing or buried under rubble. Earlier this year, a study published in The Lancet estimated that the real number of deaths in Gaza could be over 186,000, taking into account indirect deaths - for example, due to starvation and lack of health care.

Civilian infrastructure has either been completely destroyed or severely damaged, including some 68% of farmland and roads. Only 17 out of 36 hospitals are still partially functional and all suffer from shortages of fuel, medical supplies and clean water.

"These unimaginable figures are both horrific and heartbreaking. Influential actors in the international community have not only failed to hold Israel accountable, they are complicit in the atrocities by unconditionally continuing to supply Israel with weapons. It will take generations to recover from the devastating impact of this war and there is still no ceasefire in sight."

Sally Abi Khalil, Director of Oxfam in the Middle East and North Africa.

"-Our colleagues and partners have had to leave their homes themselves, but are doing their utmost every day to assist in this humanitarian disaster. What we are seeing is unprecedented - the rapid acceleration towards famine, the return of polio, the utter devastation of daily life faced by the entire population. Israel's impunity and derogation from international humanitarian law must end - we cannot allow the relentless horror and suffering to continue."

Sally Abi Khalil, Director of Oxfam in the Middle East and North Africa.

Oxfam's partner organization Juzoor supports hundreds of thousands of people in more than 90 shelters and health centers across Gaza.

"The past year has had a devastating impact, with women having to bear a double burden. Many have suddenly become the heads of their households, struggling for family survival and providing care amidst the devastation. Pregnant and breastfeeding mothers have faced enormous difficulties, including the collapse of health services. For children, the trauma is equally profound. Over 25,000 children have either lost a parent or been orphaned, leaving them in deep emotional distress. Most children struggle with anxiety and severe physical injuries, and many have lost body parts."

Head of Juzoor, Dr. Umaiyeh Khammash

In the occupied West Bank, the unprecedented escalation and levels of violence raise concerns that serious violations of international law and war crimes are being committed. Since last October, more than 680 Palestinians have been killed either by Israeli settlers or by military force. More than a thousand settler attacks on Palestinians have been recorded, with direct attacks on agricultural land resulting in the destruction of crops, irrigation systems and greenhouses, including internationally funded and Oxfam-supported projects. The Israeli military has forced the demolition of more than 2,000 Palestinian homes with massive damage to civilian infrastructure including roads.

Oxfam calls for an immediate, permanent ceasefire, the release of all hostages and illegally detained Palestinians, an end to all lethal arms sales to Israel, and the release of humanitarian aid throughout Gaza. In light of the latest advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, and in order to avoid complicity, third states must do everything in their power to bring about an immediate end to the illegal Israeli occupation, the removal of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the payment of reparations, including restitution, rehabilitation and compensation for affected communities.

Information:

• The comparison of the number of women directly killed in conflict is taken from the Small Arms Survey Global Violent Deaths database, which contains the latest available data from 2004 to 2021. It includes data and estimates on direct deaths in conflict disaggregated by the gender of the victims. The previous highest number of women estimated to have been killed in a conflict in one year was 2 647 in Iraq in 2016. Even taking into account potential underreporting of women killed in other conflicts, the death toll in Gaza is much higher. Compared to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) cumulative impact report of 25 September, taken from the Ministry of Health in Gaza, out of 41,495 people killed, 34,344 have been identified up to 31 August. 6,297 are women and 11,355 children. The Ministry makes no distinction between civilian and combatant deaths.

• A report by the organization Every Casualty Counts examined the information available on the deaths of 11,420 children in the Syrian conflict from March 2011 to the end of August 2013 (approximately 29 months), which is an average of 394 children per month - 4,725 children per year.

• The reports on children and armed conflict issued by the UN Secretary-General began reporting consistently on grave violations against children in 2006, with annual data for the previous year. The UN reports contain both verified and estimated figures for the number of children killed each year, but even when Oxfam factored in the most extreme assumptions for each estimate and checked additional data sources, the number of children killed in Gaza far exceeds any single year for children killed in any conflict. These figures were then compared with the OCHA report.

• The total number of children killed in Gaza and the West Bank according to the UN Children and Armed Conflict Reports between 2005 and 2022 is 2,304. 11,355 children have been killed so far this year, which is 4.9 times more, compared to the OCHA report.

• There is limited, verified data available for the number of women and children killed directly by conflict during the Tigray civil war (November 2020 - November 2022) in northern Ethiopia. Although there are some deaths for women in Ethiopia in the Small Arms Survey report, the most referenced data is from the University of Ghent which estimates between 300,000 and 600,000 civilian deaths over a two-year period. Of the well-documented 3,074 deaths, 8% were women and 9% were children (under 20). The study estimates that 10% of the total deaths were victims of bombings and massacres, 30% due to lack of medical care and 60% due to starvation.

• Human Rights Watch published analysis of the attacks on October 7, 2023 and the Times of Israel documented the number of Israeli children taken hostage.

• Action On Armed Violence (AOAV) records, investigates and disseminates evidence of armed violence against civilians worldwide. Data from October 7 through September 23 showed 2,854 Israeli explosive attacks - including airstrikes, missiles, and tank shelling - with information including date, event description, number of civilians killed, and location. AOAV uses English-language media reports to capture the information. An AOAV report last year found that English-language media underreport the number of casualties caused by specific incidents involving explosive weapons, capturing only about a third of the actual civilian deaths from specific explosive incidents in Gaza.

• Counting the dead in Gaza: difficult but essential was published in The Lancet in July this year, and studies indirect deaths in Gaza due to the war.