Palestine
Casualties
Casualties Overview
|
All known casualties by end 2016 |
3,625 |
|
Casualties in 2016 |
15 (2015: 74) |
|
2016 casualties by outcome |
1 killed; 14 injured (2015:6 killed; 68 injured) |
|
2016 casualties by device type |
15 explosive remnants of war (ERW) |
In 2016, 15 mine/ERW casualties were recorded for the State of Palestine. As in 2015, almost half of the casualties in 2016 (7) were children.[1] All the casualties in 2016 were male. Of the total casualties for 2016, six occurred in the West Bank and nine in the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian Mine Action Center (PMAC) managed casualty data for the West Bank, while the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) Palestine collected and managed casualty data updates for the Gaza Strip.
The 2016 data represented a significant decrease from the 74 recorded for 2015 and the 69 recorded for 2014. Therefore 2016 marked a point of departure from the spike in casualties that followed the destruction in Gaza caused by 50 days of conflict in mid-2014, also referred to as Operation Protective Edge. Forty-nine casualties were reported in 2013,[2] 35 in 2012,[3] 24 in 2010, and 46 casualties reported for 2009, following Operation Cast Lead.[4]
The total number of mine/ERW casualties in Palestine is not known. Defense for Children International Palestine (DCI/PS) recorded more than 2,500 mine/ERW casualties occurring between 1967 and 1998.[5] Between 2000 and the end of 2016, the Monitor identified 1,125 casualties (172 killed; 940 injured; and 13 unknown).
[1] Emails from Doran Bahadur Sunuwar, Officer in Charge, UNMAS, 17 and 28 August 2017; and from the Palestine Mine Action Center (PMAC), 13 September 2017.
[2] Emails from Planning Department, PMAC, 2 April 2015; and from Sonia Pezier, UNMAS Palestine, 7 April 2015.
[3] Email from Imab Mohareb, PMAC, 4 October 2012.
[4] Emails from Celine Francois, UNMAS, 22 July 2011; from Ayed Abu Eqtaish, Program Manager, Defense for Children International Palestine (DCI/PS), 26 July 2011; and from Brig. Omran Sulaiman, PMAC, 25 September 2012. In addition to the 16 casualties reported by the Monitor for 2010, another eight mine/ERW casualties (one killed; seven injured) in the West Bank for 2010 were added to the previous 2010 total based on PMAC casualty data updates provided in 2012. The rise in casualties in Gaza in 2009 was attributed to contamination by explosive remnants during and following Operation Cast Lead, which ended on 18 January 2009.
[5] DCI/PS, “The Problem of Landmines, Unexploded Ordnance and Munitions Remnants in the Palestinian Territories: A Seminar Report,” 25–26 March 1998, p. 14.