Above photo: Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar attends a rally marking the 46th anniversary of Land Day in Gaza City, March 30, 2022. Ashraf Amra/APA Images.
The Extermination Of Jabalia Continues.
Israel has committed a new massacre in Jabalia as it continues its siege on northern Gaza.
Casualties
- 42,438 + killed* and at least 99,246 wounded in the Gaza Strip. 32,280 of the slain have been identified, including 10,627 children and 5,956 women, representing 60% of the casualties, and 2,770 elderly as of August 6, 2024. Some 10,000 more are estimated to be under the rubble*
- 756+ Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. This includes at least 146 children.**
- 2,367 Lebanese killed and more than 10,096 wounded by Israeli forces since October 8, 2023***
- Israel revised its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,189.
- The Israeli army recognizes the death of 720 Israeli soldiers and the injury of at least 4,100 others since October 7.****
* Gaza’s branch of the Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed this figure in its daily report, published through its WhatsApp channel on October 17, 2024. Rights groups and public health experts estimate the death toll to be much higher.
** The death toll in the West Bank and Jerusalem is not updated regularly. This is the latest figure according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health as of October 15, 2024.
*** This figure was released by the Lebanese Health Ministry, updated on October 7, 2024. The counting is based on the Lebanese official date for the beginning of “the Israeli aggression on Lebanon,” when Israel began airstrikes on Lebanese territory after the beginning of Hezbollah’s “support front” for Gaza.
**** These figures are released by the Israeli military, showing the soldiers whose names “were allowed to be published.” Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot reported on August 4, 2024, that some 10,000 Israeli soldiers and officers have been either killed or wounded since October 7. The head of the Israeli army’s wounded association told Israel’s Channel 12 that the number of wounded Israeli soldiers exceeds 20,000, including at least 8,000 who have been permanently handicapped as of June 1. Israel’s Channel 7 reported that according to the Israeli war ministry’s rehabilitation service numbers, 8,663 new wounded joined the army’s handicap rehabilitation system since October 7 and as of June 18.
Key Developments
- The Gaza branch of the Palestinian Health Ministry says the death toll surpasses 42,438, with 99,246 wounded since October 7, comprising 33% children, 18.4% women, and 8.6% elderly; at least 115 Palestinian children born and killed by Israeli forces since October 7.
- Palestinian Health Ministry says the death toll in the West Bank and Jerusalem at the hand of the Israeli army or settlers has reached 756 since October 7.
- Lebanese Ministry of Health says 2,367 Lebanese people killed, over 11,088 wounded in hundreds of Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon, especially in the south and the Beqaa Valley as of the beginning of escalating hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel in September 2024.
- Israeli army media says Israeli forces killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar near Rafah; Sinwar’s body reportedly found wearing military vest after having been killed following combat with Israeli army.
- Following Israel’s announcement of Sinwar’s death, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris says in a statement that “this moment gives us an opportunity to finally end the war in Gaza.”
- Israel kills 28 Palestinians, including children, in a strike on a UN school in western Jabalia.
- Palestinian Civil Defense says teams can’t reach parts of Jabalia to recover bodies and evacuate survivors.
- Director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza says hospital is overwhelmed with wounded patients, at risk of stopping functioning due to lack of fuel.
- Israeli forces detonate a series of buildings in the village of Maheiheb near Marjayoun in south Lebanon.
- Israeli army admits to death of five soldiers and wounding of 15 others in south Lebanon combat on Wednesday.
- Hezbollah’s Deputy Secretary General Naim Qassem says Hezbollah has recovered its strength and begun “a phase of inflicting pain” upon Israel.
- Palestinian Red Crescent says a teenager aged 14 was wounded by Israeli fire during a raid of Salfit, northern West Bank.
- Israeli forces raid Jalazone refugee camp north of Ramallah.
- Israeli settlers wound four Palestinian farmers during olive harvest in Qusra, near Nablus.
- Armed Israeli settlers force Palestinian farmers in the Ramin plain, east of Tulkarem, to leave olive groves under threat of violence during olive harvest
Israel Says It Killed Yahya Sinwar In Combat
On Thursday, October 17, the Israeli army radio said that Israel had killed Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar in combat in Rafah. The military stated that it was investigating whether the body that it found following a battle with Palestinian fighters was Sinwar, which had been sent for DNA testing. Later in the day, the Israeli army said that the collected samples matched the DNA record that Israel had on Sinwar from his years of imprisonment in Israeli custody.
As of the time of writing, Hamas has not commented on the incident or released a statement.
Israeli social media accounts began to circulate images of the body online before the news first broke. The photos depicted a man closely resembling Sinwar wearing a military vest and lying amidst the rubble with a noticeable wound to the skull.
The Israeli army’s initial statement claimed that Israeli troops engaged three Palestinian fighters in battle in Rafah’s Tal al-Sultan neighborhood on Wednesday night before killing them. After the Israeli soldiers inspected the bodies of the slain fighters, they reportedly noticed that one of them closely resembled the Hamas leader, which they allegedly identified by his teeth. Israeli officials have stated that the alleged killing of Sinwar “was coincidental and not based on intelligence” and that no hostages were involved, Axios reported. Israel’s war minister Yoav Gallant also reportedly told U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin that DNA testing had confirmed that the body belonged to Sinwar.
Following Israel’s announcement of Sinwar’s death, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris said in a statement that “this moment gives us an opportunity to finally end the war in Gaza.”
“It is time for the day after to begin without Hamas in power,” Harris added in her statement on Thursday.