A/HRC/9/26 page 7 18. Over the same period, increased military activity added a climate of fear for an already fragile population. According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, from the disengagement until 9 November 2006, the Israeli military fired approximately 15,000 artillery shells and conducted more than 550 air strikes into the Gaza Strip. Israeli military attacks killed approximately 525 Gazans and injured 1,527.5 According to Israel, the majority of its military operations in Gaza are aimed at stopping rocket-launching activity.6 Over the same period, at least 1,700 Kassam rockets were fired into Israel by Palestinian militants, injuring 41 Israelis.7 19. Conflict reached a peak in the summer and autumn of 2006 with Israeli military incursions into Gaza, code-named “Summer Rains” and “Autumn Clouds” respectively, the latter focusing on Beit Hanoun in the week immediately prior to 8 November. From the large amount of information, including testimonies, received by the mission, it is clear that this operation traumatized the population of the town, severely weakened medical service delivery and obstructed freedom of movement, in particular in relation to the evacuation of the injured. During the incursion, the Israeli military fired 239 artillery shells and launched 66 air-to-ground missiles into Gaza.8 Israel enforced a curfew confining residents to their homes that was lifted only every second day for three to four hours. Hundreds of male residents aged between 16 and 40 were ordered from their homes and taken to an Israeli holding centre to the north of the town for questioning.8 The majority of electricity, water and telephone services in the town were cut; movement, including that of ambulances was restricted to prior authorization of the Israeli military; and Israeli military tanks and bulldozers destroyed scores of homes and other buildings, uprooted orchards and olive groves and dug up roads, water mains and sewage networks. Education services were also disrupted. Schools operated by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) serving nearly 10,500 pupils were shut down for a week. Estimates indicate that damage caused by the operation at over $23 million, including reconstruction or repair of over 1,000 housing units.9 5 Office for the Coordination in Humanitarian Affairs, Gaza Strip situation report, 9 November 2006. 6 Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs communiqué, “Beit Hanoun: a hub of terrorist activity”, 5 November 2006. 7 From November 2001 to the end of November 2007, 2,383 rockets hit southern Israel, killing 10 Israeli civilians and wounding 433, the majority being civilians. Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Israel Intelligence Heritage and Commemoration Center. 8 Office for the Coordination in Humanitarian Affairs, Gaza Strip situation report, 9 November 2006. 9 Ibid., 13 November 2006.