A/HRC/9/26 page 8 20. Of particular relevance to the shelling on 8 November was the impact of the Autumn Clouds incursion on the health infrastructure of Beit Hanoun. According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the primary health-care system effectively ceased to function during the incursion as staff at the Ministry of Health, UNRWA and local non-governmental organization clinics were unable to reach their places of work.9 The hospital in Beit Hanoun was inaugurated barely five weeks before the incursion. According to the World Health Organization, it was not fully operational at the time of the incursion and was designed as a centre for primary care and triage.10 The mission heard testimony from the hospital Director, a surgeon, a nurse and an ambulance driver. They told of the 24-hour work of the hospital during the incursion in conditions without water, telephone and grid electricity. The already grave situation was compounded as up to 1,500 people sought refuge in the hospital on 3 November, putting excessive demands on hospital staff to provide food and sleeping facilities.11 Access to and from the hospital was restricted by the Israeli military, hampering ambulances from fetching and transferring the injured. Two paramedics were killed during the military operation.12 21. During the incursion, Israeli military personnel occupied houses in Beit Hanoun for hours at a time,13 including the house of the Al-Athamna family, which was occupied twice; first for four hours, the second time for six. “They knew who slept in each room, they knew it was a family home”, reported one witness. 22. Accounts by United Nations relief agencies,14 international and Palestinian human rights groups15 put the number of Palestinians killed during the incursion (together with the victims of the 8 November attack) at between 77 and 82, including at least 39 civilians. Around 250 others were reportedly wounded, including at least 67 children and 58 women. One Israeli soldier died during the operation. 10 The facility includes 42 beds, 6 emergency beds, 2 operating rooms and a laboratory. 11 UNRWA, Flash Appeal. 12 WHO, Situation Report; Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, “Palestinian medical crews under attack”, May 2007. 13 UNRWA, Flash Appeal; Amnesty International, “Israel and the Occupied Territories: road to nowhere”, December 2006. 14 Office for the Coordination in Humanitarian Affairs, Gaza Strip situation report, 13 November 2006; UNRWA, Flash Appeal. 15 “Palestinian human rights groups denounce Beit Hanoun massacre”, statement by 11 Palestinian human rights organizations, 8 November 2006.