Statistics can’t tell the story of civilian suffering in Gaza. Physical pain defies easy quantification. Emotional trauma is far more than a number on a psychological distress scale. Still, numbers can be enlightening — and damning. The Intercept has assembled a short primer and accompanying infographics to offer a glimpse of what a year of relentless Israeli attacks — and U.S. military support for Israel — has meant to the people of Gaza.
The Uncountable Dead
On the night of October 7, 2023, Israel bombed a home in the town of Abasan al-Kabira, east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. Eighteen members of one family, including at least five children and four women, were reportedly killed. At least one survivor, 11-year-old Tala Abu Daqqa, was injured. Al Ghad TV, a local television station, reported that around 150 people had been injured in the Abasan area.
The attack, which Israel launched following raids by Hamas militants that killed Israeli civilians earlier that day, reportedly destroyed five residential buildings. “They hit us with two or three barrels of explosives and brought the entire buildings down,” Mohammad Abu Daqqa, a relative of the family, told CNN.
In the year since that strike, Israeli attacks on Gaza have never ceased. More than 2 million other Palestinian civilians have been killed, wounded, or displaced as a result.
Israeli attacks have killed almost 42,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 96,000 others in Gaza since last October, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. More than 10,000 Palestinians are thought to be buried under the rubble littering the Gaza Strip.
A group of 99 American health workers who served in Gaza estimate the death toll is no less than three times higher than that current official count. In the appendix to a recent letter sent to the Biden administration, calling for an arms embargo on Israel, they estimated that the death toll is at least 118,908. “It is highly likely that the real number of deaths in Gaza from this conflict is far higher than this most conservative estimate,” they note.
More deaths are sure to come. Researchers, applying a conservative estimate of four indirect deaths — from causes like disease outbreaks, a lack of medical care, and shortages of food, water, and shelter — per one direct death to the 37,396 deaths that had been reported as of July, wrote in The Lancet that “it is not implausible to estimate that up to 186,000 or even more deaths could be attributable to the current conflict in Gaza.”
America’s Constant Supply of Weapons
As the death toll has risen, the United States has ramped up its support for Israel.
Late last month, Israel announced it had reached a deal with the U.S. for an $8.7 billion aid package to support its ongoing military efforts. In August, the Biden administration approved five major arms sales to Israel, including 50 F-15 fighter aircraft, tank ammunition, tactical vehicles, air-to-air missiles, and 50,000 mortar rounds, among other equipment totaling more than $20 billion. While technically “sales,” the cost of these weapons is mostly paid by the United States since Israel uses much of the military aid Congress approves to buy U.S.-made weapons.
“Make no mistake, the United States is fully, fully, fully supportive of Israel,” said President Joe Biden recently, despite the fact that his administration acknowledged the likelihood that Israel has used U.S. weapons in Gaza in violation of international law.
“In the past year, the United States has sent thousands of bombs to Israel. These are the very same weapons that have killed Palestinian children and wiped out Palestinian families month after month,” John Ramming Chappell, an advocacy and legal fellow at the Center for Civilians in Conflict, also known as CIVIC, told The Intercept. “Israeli military attacks, often using weapons made in the United States, have leveled countless homes, destroyed schools and hospitals, and made Gaza all but unlivable.”
Lost Limbs, Bombed Hospitals
For every person killed by the Israeli military and American bombs, many more are suffering injuries, medical deprivation, and malnutrition. As of July, at least one-quarter of those injured in Gaza were estimated to have life-altering traumatic injuries that will require years of rehabilitation, according to a World Health Organization analysis. The predominant injury, affecting as many as 17,550 people, was severe wounds to limbs.
Between 3,105 and 4,050 limb amputations have also been performed, according to WHO. There have also been around 2,000 spinal cord or traumatic brain injuries and about the same number of major burn injuries. Only 41 percent — 5,968 out of 14,469 — of critical patients who submitted requests for medical evacuation have been approved.
Gaza’s health care system had already been battered by years of occupation and blockade, but the decimation of medical and public health infrastructure has hit unprecedented levels since last October. There have reportedly been 492 attacks on health care facilities in Gaza, killing almost 750 people. Every hospital in Gaza has been affected. Only 17 hospitals are partially functional.
Nineteen hospitals out of 36 are currently not operational in Gaza, making the situation dire for healthcare access in the region.
The rate of attacks on healthcare facilities and personnel in Gaza is alarmingly high, with an average of 73 attacks per month, according to Save the Children’s analysis. This rate surpasses that of conflicts in Ukraine and the Democratic Republic of Congo since 2018.
A significant portion of the population in Gaza, including those with chronic conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes, cardiovascular issues, cancer, and kidney failure, are unable to access necessary healthcare services, as reported by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.
The people of Gaza have been exposed to unprecedented trauma, with many experiencing violence, displacement, and loss of loved ones and belongings, as highlighted in a report by ACAPS.
Additionally, the conflict has taken a toll on children in Gaza, with a large number in need of mental health and psychosocial support. Even before the recent war, a significant percentage of Gaza’s child population required such services, and the conflict has only exacerbated the need.
The widespread destruction in Gaza has left many homeless, with a large portion of the population displaced multiple times. The scale of destruction in Gaza exceeds that of other urban areas attacked in recent history, posing immense challenges for rebuilding and recovery efforts.
The ongoing conflict has also led to severe food insecurity in Gaza, with the majority of the population facing acute food shortages. The agricultural sector has been significantly impacted, with a decline in crop fields and livestock, further exacerbating the food crisis.
Fishing, which was once a key source of livelihood and food in Gaza, has also suffered extensive damage, with many fishermen killed and boats destroyed. The overall situation in Gaza remains dire, with urgent humanitarian assistance needed to address the multiple challenges facing the population. Gaza’s port and essential fishing infrastructure have been completely decimated. Since the start of the conflict, Gazans have been surviving on less than 5 liters of water per day for all their needs. This is a significant decrease from the minimum standard of 15 liters per person per day required for basic emergency survival. By June, Gaza City had lost almost all its water production capacity, with key facilities either damaged or destroyed.
The Palestinian economy is on the brink of collapse, with an 86 percent contraction in Gaza’s economy in the first quarter of 2024. The overall GDP in the Occupied Palestinian Territories has plummeted by 35 percent, leading to a dire humanitarian crisis. Prior to the war, 64 percent of Gaza’s population lived in poverty, a number that has now risen to virtually 100 percent.
Basic services have come to a halt, with tons of solid waste accumulating in makeshift camps among displaced people. The destruction of water and sanitation infrastructure has led to a public health catastrophe, with outbreaks of diseases like Hepatitis A and acute respiratory infections.
Children in Gaza have been severely impacted, with over 650,000 out of school since the conflict began. The destruction of over 85 percent of school buildings will set back children’s education by several years. The suffering of children and adults in Gaza cannot be fully captured by statistics alone, as the depth of their distress and sorrow goes beyond mere numbers.
An approximation of the number of million tons of rubble generated by Israeli attacks can give us an idea of the extent of the devastation, but it doesn’t capture the true impact of each bombing on the survivors and the future of Gaza, especially considering the lives lost.
Numbers can’t convey the depth of Tala Abu Daqqa’s pain. Statistics fail to illustrate the emotional toll on an 11-year-old child who has experienced such a tragedy. The suffering exceeds any numerical representation. The psychological trauma cannot be measured by a simple questionnaire. The magnitude of her loss can only truly be understood by acknowledging the irreplaceable final tally: two parents and three sisters gone forever.
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