GAZA: Israeli tanks advanced deep into a central Gaza town on Thursday, while an airstrike in the southern town of Rafah claimed the lives of at least 20, and left 55 others wounded.

A Palestinian journalist posted pictures of Israeli tanks near a mosque in a built-up area of Bureij which had apparently advanced from orchards on the eastern outskirts.

Palestinian health authorities said 210 people were confirmed killed in Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours, raising the toll of the war to 21,320 dead – nearly 1 percent of the enclave’s population. Thousands more dead are feared to be buried or lost in the ruins.

The main focus of fighting is now in central areas south of the wetlands that bisect the narrow coastal strip, where Israeli forces have ordered civilians out over the past several days as their tanks close in.

20 killed, 55 injured in Rafah strike; UN rights chief decries ‘dehumanisation’ of Palestinians in their own land

Further south, Israeli forces struck the area around a hospital in the heart of Khan Yunis as tens of thousands of people fleeing the huge Nusseirat, Bureij and Maghazi districts were heading south or west into the already overwhelmed city of Deir al-Balah along the Mediterranean coast, crowding into hastily built camps of makeshift tents.

Residents said they believed Israeli forces were trying to provoke a new exodus ahead of a further ground assault.

Nearby at Nasser Hospital, the main hospital in Khan Younis, women and children shrieked as the dead and wounded were brought in.

A toddler lay motionless on a cot while medics tried to revive him; one doctor nodded “no,” signalling the boy was dead.

A woman held back two wailing girls, covered in dust by the side of a bed, as a baby wrapped in a bloody white shroud was placed by the legs of another body wrapped in a blanket.

‘Dehumanised’

In a chilling revelation, UN rights chief Volker Türk issued a stark warning on Thursday, painting a grim picture of the occupied West Bank and Gaza’s descent into unprecedented violence against Palestinians.

“Bulldozers in refugee camps, detainees stripped naked and spat at, farmers robbed of their harvest: against the backdrop of the war in Gaza the situation in the occupied West Bank is rapidly deteriorating amid levels of violence not seen in years,” said a UN report highlighting Mr. Türk’s remarks.

Urging Israel to stop further deterioration of an already grim situation, Mr. Türk said: “The dehumanization of Palestinians that characterizes many of the settlers’ actions is very disturbing and must cease immediately.”

The urgent plea by the chief UN spokesperson for human rights echoes through the corridors of international conscience, signaling a call to action against the grotesque dehumanization of Palestinians by settlers. The haunting imagery of naked detainees being spat at, and the devastation caused by bulldozers casts a shadow on the region’s humanitarian landscape.

A report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) characterized 2023 as “the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank since the UN began recording casualties in 2005.”

A “sharp increase in airstrikes as well as in incursions by armoured personnel carriers and bulldozers sent to refugee camps and other densely populated areas in the West Bank” since 7 October, the report adds. It also highlights the arrest of more than 4,700 Palestinians, including about 40 journalists, by Israeli troops, “in most cases not linked to the commission of a criminal offence”.

Thomas White, who heads the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), pointed out that “every day is a struggle for survival, finding food and finding water.”

Catastrophic hunger

The UNRWA report, also released on Thursday, highlights a catastrophic hunger crisis in Gaza, attributing it to a total siege imposed by Israel since October 7. This siege, coupled with years of blockade, has led to severe shortages of essential resources, leaving more than 80% of Gaza’s 2.4 million people displaced from their homes and struggling for survival.

Since the start of Israel’s bombing of Gaza in retaliation for Hamas’ attacks, the UN Human Rights Council (OHCHR) reports 300 Palestinians, including 79 children, killed in the occupied West Bank. The majority of these deaths are attributed to Israeli security forces, while settler attacks against Palestinians have doubled, with 254 recorded incidents between October 7 and November 20.

The OHCHR report details alarming human rights violations, including the arrest of over 4,700 Palestinians, some subjected to ill-treatment such as being stripped naked, blindfolded, and physically abused. Cases of sexual and gender-based violence are documented, revealing a disturbing pattern of misconduct by Israeli troops. Settler violence against Palestinians has surged, with 254 recorded attacks, averaging six incidents per day between October 7 and November 20.

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2023