The Humanitarian Monitor | January 2009

The three weeks of almost uninterrupted Israeli military operations inside Gaza resulted in the killing of 1,440 Palestinians and the injury of another 5,380, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza. With Gaza?s borders effectively sealed and no proper shelters or warning system within the Gaza Strip, the civilian population had no safe haven. The humanitarian situation deteriorated rapidly: hundreds of thousands people in Gaza were displaced at some point during the conflict. The health system struggled to cope with the massive number of severe and complex injuries. Education system hardly hit. Water and sanitation infrastructure sustained significant damages. Livelihoods, already devastated by 18 months of blockade, were further eroded.