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href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/nearly-300-palestinians-killed-29000-injured-2018">https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/nearly-300-palestinians-killed-29000-injured-2018</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">Nearly 300 Palestinians killed, 29,000
injured in 2018</h1>
<p class="node__submitted">
<span class="field field-author"><a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/people/maureen-clare-murphy">Maureen
Clare Murphy</a></span> <span class="field field-blog">-
</span><span class="field field-publication-date"><span
class="date-display-single"
content="2018-12-27T23:14:15+00:00">27 December 2018</span></span>
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<figure id="file-73106"><source media="(min-width:
72rem)"><figcaption><small><span></span></small></figcaption></figure>
<p>Israeli occupation forces and settlers have killed
295 Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza since the
beginning of the year, <a
href="https://www.ochaopt.org/content/2018-more-casualties-and-food-insecurity-less-funding-humanitarian-aid">according
to</a> a UN monitoring group.</p>
<p>Fourteen Israelis were killed by Palestinians during
the same period, in addition to a baby who died days
after his premature birth following the shooting and
critical injury of his mother.</p>
<p>More than 29,000 Palestinians were injured during
2018 – the highest number of injuries in a single year
since the UN Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs began collecting data in 2005.</p>
<p>Nearly 60 of those Palestinians killed and 7,000 of
those injured were children.</p>
<p>Twenty-eight members of armed groups were among the
fatalities, as were 15 perpetrators or alleged
perpetrators of attacks against Israelis in the West
Bank, according to OCHA.</p>
<p>More than 60 percent of the fatalities and nearly 80
percent of the injuries took place in the context of
the <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/great-march-return">Great
March of Return</a> – mass protests held regularly
along Gaza’s eastern and northern perimeter since 30
March.</p>
<p>According to Gaza’s health ministry, some 14,000
people were hospitalized for injuries sustained during
the protests, while more than 12,000 were treated at
field clinics.</p>
<p>More than 6,000 Palestinians were injured by live
ammunition during the Great March of Return.</p>
<p>The demonstrations call for an end to Israel’s <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/gaza-siege">blockade</a>
on the territory, now in its 11th year, and demand
Palestinian refugees’ right to return to the lands
from which their families were expelled during, before
and after Israel’s founding in 1948.</p>
<h2>Deadly force</h2>
<p>Israel has used deadly force against unarmed
protesters during those demonstrations, provoking the
condemnation of UN human rights officials and an <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/icc-warns-israeli-leaders-over-gaza-killings">unprecedented
warning</a> from the chief prosecutor of the
International Criminal Court.</p>
<p>But in the absence of meaningful accountability, and
with the <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israels-high-court-blesses-killing-and-maiming-gaza-protesters">blessing
of its highest court</a>, Israel continues to
threaten Palestinians with violence if they approach
the fence along Gaza’s eastern boundary.</p>
<p>On Thursday, COGAT, the bureaucratic arm of Israel’s
military occupation, pulled back its <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/benevolent-bureaucrats-military-occupation">curtain
of humanitarian propaganda</a> to reveal its true
face of oppression.</p>
<p>COGAT <a
href="https://twitter.com/cogatonline/status/1078256647896813568">published
a video</a> on Twitter in which an Israeli colonel
warns Palestinians in Gaza not to approach or damage
the boundary fence, harm Israeli soldiers or “violate
Israel’s sovereignty.” Otherwise, Palestinians “will
be answered with a determined response” by Israeli
occupation forces.</p>
<p>That “determined response” will likely mean lost
lives and badly damaged bodies, judging by Israel’s
past behavior.</p>
<p>“Israel’s shocking – and often lethal – use of force
against protesters has resulted in the deaths of
scores of Palestinians, and thousands have been
injured by live ammunition, rubber bullets and tear
gas,” Medical Aid for Palestinians <a
href="https://www.map.org.uk/news/archive/post/951-saving-lives-and-limbs-in-gaza">stated</a>
earlier this month.</p>
<p>“Thousands of patients have sustained gunshot
injuries, mainly to the limbs, and an estimated 1,500
people have devastating, disabling wounds that need
specialist limb reconstruction treatment and long-term
rehabilitation. That number continues to rise every
week.”</p>
<p><a
href="http://www.emro.who.int/images/stories/palestine/documents/WHO-Health-Cluster-Special-SitRep-_4_-_17_Dec2018_.pdf">According
to</a> the World Health Organization, 111
amputations – 20 involving children – have taken place
resulting from injuries sustained during the
demonstrations. Nineteen people have been paralyzed
due to spinal cord injuries, and six people have
permanent vision loss.</p>
<p>Three health workers were killed by Israeli forces
and another 546 injured. More than 80 ambulances have
been damaged, in addition to other losses.</p>
<p>Gaza’s overburdened healthcare system, in addition to
coping with the staggering number of protest
casualties, has meanwhile had to <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/siege-stops-chemotherapy-gaza">contend
with zero stocks of essential drugs</a> and supplies
resulting from Israel’s siege.</p>
<p>During the year hospitals reduced operations as as
they <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israel-bombs-gaza-hospitals-run-out-fuel">ran
out of fuel to run emergency generators</a> during
electricity-starved Gaza’s frequent blackouts.</p>
<h2>“Crossed red lines”</h2>
<p>Four Palestinians, <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israel-kills-teen-disabled-man-gaza-protests">including
a 16-year-old child and a disabled man</a>, were
fatally injured during last Friday’s Great March of
Return protests.</p>
<p>Palestinian factions in Gaza <a
href="https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/palestinians/.premium-red-lines-were-crossed-palestinians-in-gaza-warn-israel-after-protesters-killed-1.6769186">said</a>
that Israel “crossed red lines” by killing people who
were standing 300 to 600 meters from the boundary last
week.</p>
<p>Israeli soldiers operate under an apparent <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/content/life-lived-edge-along-gazas-boundary/18516">shoot-to-kill
policy</a> in Gaza’s boundary areas. The exact range
of the zone is undeclared but is generally understood
to be within 300 meters of the Gaza-Israel boundary.</p>
<p>The office of the United Nations High Commissioner
for Human Rights has <a
href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=22995&LangID=E">stated</a>
that Israeli forces, “in policing the Gaza fence,” may
only “resort to lethal force in cases of extreme
necessity, as a last resort in response to an imminent
threat of death or risk of serious injury.”</p>
<p>Rights groups told the UN Human Rights Council in
September that there was <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/no-evidence-single-gaza-protester-killed-israel-was-armed">no
evidence that any protester killed by Israel was
armed</a>.</p>
<p>Amnesty International has <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/teen-killed-israel-uses-sharpshooters-police-gaza-protests">condemned</a>
Israel’s “apparently deliberate attempts to kill and
maim” Gaza protesters.</p>
<p>Soldiers use “high-velocity military weapons designed
to cause maximum harm to Palestinian protesters who do
not pose an imminent threat to them.”</p>
<p>In a joint statement, Palestinian factions <a
href="https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/palestinians/egypt-reportedly-working-to-prevent-escalation-along-gaza-border-1.6770565">said</a>
that Israel’s behavior during this Friday’s protests
will prove a “test for the occupation and its bad
intentions. If the occupation continues using
excessive and disproportionate violence against the
protesters, the Palestinian resistance will respond to
the Israeli atrocious acts.”</p>
<p>The groups added: “Not money, nor electricity and
water, will deter the factions from carrying out their
duties.”</p>
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