[65][66] Researchers at The Lancet reported that the latter casualties figure is an underestimate, and the actual number of Palestinian deaths in Gaza due to direct Israeli military assaults was, as of October 2024, likely greater than 70,000.

[71][72] A severe humanitarian crisis has developed, with healthcare on the brink of collapse,[73] shortages of food, clean water, medicine and fuel due to the blockade,[74][75][76] electricity and communications blackouts,[77] and the UN warning of potential famine.

[98][99] The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had urged around 1.1 million civilians to leave North Gaza so they would not be hurt or caught in crossfire,[100] and Israeli officials said that the window was left at 24-hours to reduce the time for Hamas to conduct military preparation in the area.

[120] Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), described as "deeply concerning" reports from the Palestine Red Crescent Society with smoke and dust, prompting staff to give breathing masks to some patients.

[141] Israeli missile attacks targeted the Nasser Medical Complex in Gaza City, hitting the Al-Nasser Children's Hospital, eight people were killed and dozens more were injured according to Al Jazeera.

[143] The Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. Biden administration was planning to send $320 million worth of "Spice Family Gliding Bomb Assemblies", a type of precision guided weapon fired by warplanes, to Israel.

[150] The video showed, among others, a stash of weapons and explosives; what appears to be a motorbike with a bullet hole on its side; and water, ventilation and sewage infrastructure that the IDF said were improvised in preparation of coming hostages.

[157][158] The New York Times published a report by its Visual Investigations team contradicting claims by the IDF that civilian deaths and damage at the al-Shifa Hospital had been caused by stray Palestinian projectiles.

[159] The report concluded instead, "some of the munitions were likely fired by Israeli forces", based on video and satellite evidence and an examination of weapons fragments collected and verified by The Times and analyzed by experts.

[202] The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, responded on X (formerly known as Twitter) saying he was "appalled" by the Israeli forces and their actions against the Indonesia Hospital by keeping the injured and medical staff inside the building while besieging it.

[211] Qatari Foreign Affairs minister Mohamed Bin Mubarak Al-Khulaifi, whom Reuters referred to as "Qatar's chief negotiator in ceasefire talks," stated his hope that the truce "will be a seed to a bigger agreement and a permanent cease of fire...That's our intention.

[223] Turkish media and Muhammad al-Hindi, Deputy Secretary-General of the PIJ, confirmed that Al-Quds Brigade soldiers held and released civilian women and children to the Red Cross.

[229] Palestinian militants led by Saraya al Quds resisted the Israeli penetration into the northwestern front towards Jabalia, engaging soldiers in urban warfare throughout the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhoods.

Attempts to close in on Jabalia have resulted in significant Israeli casualties, with the IDF acknowledging Gadi Eizenkot's son been eliminated fighting in the northern Gaza Strip on 7 December.

A fighter can be seen rejoicing, exclaiming that the tank had "caught fire"[236] The Times of Israel announced that 6 IDF soldiers were killed in fighting in the southern Gaza strip, after Hamas militants detonated an IED targeting the Israeli 5th Brigade's 8111st Battalion forces in Khan Younis.

[315][316] Multiple news agencies reported that the IDF assaulted and detained Al Jazzera correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul and more than 80 other people, including medical staff and other journalists, and confiscated and destroyed media equipment.

[343] The Israeli military recovered the bodies of six hostages Hamas kidnapped during the October 7 attack on Israel, including U.S. citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin, from an underground tunnel near Rafah, Gaza.

[358] On 19 January, the ceasefire went into effect, with Hamas releasing the first three Israeli captives to the Red Cross and roughly 90 Palestinian prisoners being freed; the IDF also began withdrawing from parts of the Gaza Strip.

[375] A Doctors Without Borders video shared by Amnesty International head Agnès Callamard said, "This brutal annihilation of an entire populations health system stretches beyond what humanitarian aid can fix.

South Africa's submission placed the charges in the broader context of Israel's conduct towards Palestinians, including claims of 75 years of apartheid, the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the 16-year blockade of the Gaza Strip.

[410] By early 2024, Israeli forces had destroyed more than half of Gaza's houses,[411] at least a third of its tree cover and farmland, most of its schools, all 12 of its universities, hundreds of cultural landmarks, and dozens of cemeteries.

[420] The Euro Med Human Rights Monitor has reported widespread looting by IDF troops in where they stole assets and money from Palestinian citizens, including items like computers and jewelry.

According to a legal researcher at the Ramallah based human rights organization Al-Haq, Israeli authorities have justified the looting as that the items and money are somehow belongs to Hamas, while others have claimed it shows intentional destruction of property and collective punishment.

[422][423][424] Lack of internet access has prevented Gazan citizens from communicating with loved ones, learning of IDF operations, and identifying areas most exposed to bombing and possible escape routes.

[433] In February 2024, the BBC published a report detailing documented instances of Israeli soldiers abusing and humiliating Palestinian detainees, which Mark Ellis, an expert on international criminal tribunals, said showed possible violations of laws regarding prisoners of war.

[440] On 19 February 2024, a report co-authored by Francesca Albanese and Reem Alsalem, United Nations special rapporteurs, urged an inquiry into allegations of serious human rights violations against Palestinian women and girls in Gaza and the West Bank by Israeli forces.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a press release on 19 February, citing those claims and referring to photos allegedly taken by Israeli troops showing female detainees in degrading circumstances posted online.

[446] A June 2024 The New York Times investigation detailed allegations that Israeli interrogators in the Sde Teiman detention camp had inserted hot metal sticks into detainees' anuses.

[450] He reported widespread torture, including by medical staff, as well as electrocution during interrogations, sexual abuse, constant beatings, forced stripping, genital grabbing, and frequent rapes committed by both male and female soldiers.

"[472] On 6 February, West Bank politician Mustafa Barghouti said, "Any military operations in Rafah – with its limited space and crowdedness with over 1.5 million Palestinians displaced by the Israeli army – would lead to brutal massacres unprecedented in modern history.