A/HRC/28/45 B. Cycles of violence and impunity Escalations in Gaza 11. During the reporting period, active hostilities again flared up between Israel and Palestinian armed groups in Gaza. An increase in hostilities could be observed from the second half of 2013,8 with 13 Palestinians, including a 3-year-old girl, and one Israeli killed during the period between 26 May 2013 and 6 July 2014. 9 On the night of 7 July, Israel launched a military operation in Gaza. Over the next 51 days, until a sustained ceasefire on 26 August, the parties engaged in intense hostilities, causing damage and destruction on an unprecedented scale in Gaza. 12. According to information gathered by the Protection Cluster 10 as of 1 December 11 2014, a total of 1,549 Palestinian civilians, including 306 women and 539 children, had been killed. Palestinian Ministry of Health figures indicate that 11,231 Palestinians, including 3,540 women and 3,436 children, had been injured. 12 Almost 22,000 housing units, home to an estimated 132,000 people, had been totally destroyed or so severely damaged as to be uninhabitable.13 At the height of the escalation, approximately 500,000 Palestinians, more than a quarter of the entire population in Gaza, were internally displaced.14 13. Between 8 July and 26 August, Palestinian armed groups fired 4,881 rockets and 1,753 mortars towards Israel. 15 According to official Israeli sources, 66 soldiers and six civilians were killed, while 369 soldiers and civilians were injured during the fighting or as a result of rocket attacks.16 14. The 2014 escalation, together with previous large-scale escalations in 2008/09 and 2012 and sporadic violent escalations in between, form part of a recurrent pattern of serious violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law by all parties. Each escalation involved significant loss of life; in each case, civilians have paid a heavy price in terms of fatalities, injuries and suffering. 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 See the report of the Secretary-General on Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem (A/69/347), paras. 40–43. Source: Al-Mezan Centre for Human Rights (figures do not include casualties in the access-restricted areas (see paras. 18–20 below)); United Nations Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS); A/69/347, paras. 40–43. The Protection Cluster is the mechanism for coordinating humanitarian action by United Nations and non-United Nations humanitarian organizations working in the protection sector. It is one of several such sectoral clusters. OHCHR leads the Protection Cluster in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. For more information on the cluster system, see www.ochaopt.org/content.aspx?id=1010056. The casualty figures are subject to ongoing verification. Updated figures outside the reporting period are provided where available. www.moh.ps/attach/761.pdf. Source: Shelter Cluster. www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_sitrep_26_08_2014.pdf and www.ochaopt.org/documents/gaza_mira_report_9september.pdf. Source: UNDSS. www.shabak.gov.il/English/EnTerrorData/Reports/Pages/Monthly0814.aspx; www.shabak.gov.il/English/EnTerrorData/Reports/Pages/Monthlysummary%E2%80%93July2014.as px; www.idfblog.com/blog/2014/07/19/fallen-soldiers-operation-protective-edge/; and http://mfa.gov.il/MFA/ForeignPolicy/Terrorism/Victims/Pages/In%20Memory%20of%20the%20Vict ims%20of%20Palestinian%20Violence%20a.aspx. 5