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Palestine
Casualties and Victim Assistance
Casualties
Casualties in 2009[1]
|
Casualties in 2009 |
46 (2008: 16) |
|
Casualties by outcome |
12 killed; 34 injured (2008: 8 killed; 8 injured) |
|
Casualties by device type |
46 ERW |
In 2009, 46 explosive remnants of war (ERW) casualties were identified in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). Of the total casualties, at least 20 (43%) were children (18 boys, one girl, and one child of unknown gender), 22 were adults (20 men and two women), and the age was not recorded for four casualties.[2]
The 2009 data represented a significant increase from the 16 casualties identified in 2008 when most of the known devices which caused casualties were ERW, and five casualties were caused by mines.[3] Of the 2009 total, 41 casualties were recorded in Gaza, during or following Operation Cast Lead,[4] and five in the West Bank. In 2008, just six casualties were identified in Gaza and 10 in the West Bank.
The total number of Palestinian mine/ERW casualties is not known, though at least 3,340 casualties have been reported. Defense for Children International Palestine (DCI/PS) recorded more than 2,500 mine/ERW casualties occurring between 1967 and 1998.[5] Between 2000 and 2008, Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor identified at least 840 casualties (139 killed, 688 injured, and 13 unknown).[6]
Victim Assistance
The estimated number of survivors is unknown but there are 688 survivors injured since 1999. There was no central database of information on the needs of persons with disabilities and no survivor needs assessments were reported. In 2009, the Ministry of Social Affairs (MoSA) began a comprehensive survey of persons with disabilities together with 25 local partners. MoSA employed social workers, database officers, and rehabilitation staff to carry out the survey.[7] The Artificial Limbs and Polio Center (ALPC) collected data on people who had amputations as a result of injuries sustained during Operation Cast Lead.[8]
Victim assistance coordination
There is no specific victim assistance coordination body or plan in place in the OPT, and mine/ERW survivors receive the same services as other persons with disabilities.[9] The Ministry of Health and MoSA are responsible for disability issues.[10] In Gaza the involvement of stakeholders, including MoSA and the UN Relief and Works Agency, in providing assistance to mine/ERW survivors was not coordinated or systematic and occurred only on a case-by-case basis.[11] In January 2009, a Disability Sub-Cluster for all disability stakeholders in Gaza, with Handicap International (HI) as chair, was formed under the Health Cluster of the UN-led system. Previously, a number of separate coordination mechanisms had existed.[12] No inclusion of mine/ERW survivors in the Sub-Cluster was reported.
Service accessibility and effectiveness
Victim assistance activities in 2009[13]
|
Name of organization |
Type of organization |
Type of activity |
Changes in quality/coverage of service in 2009 |
|
ALPC |
Local NGO |
The only centre providing prosthetic devices in Gaza |
Temporarily closed due to Operation Cast Lead; could not meet demand following Operation Cast Lead |
|
Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) |
National NGO |
Emergency medical care, community-based services, psychosocial support, promoting the inclusion of persons with disabilities in services |
Increased training of psycho-social support volunteers; new psychosocial support teams in Gaza |
|
ICRC |
International Organization |
Training and material support for the ALPC; post-surgical physiotherapy support to Al Shifa Hospital, the central hospital in Gaza
|
Initiated support to emergency services in Al Shifa and extended post-surgical physiotherapy support to Gaza’s European Hospital |
|
International Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victims Assistance (ITF) |
International Organization |
Rehabilitation in Slovenia |
Assessed and evacuated child mine/ERW casualties to Slovenia |
The availability and accessibility of services needed by mine/ERW survivors in the OPT decreased in 2009. Accessibility to treatment in the Gaza Strip was limited by Operation Cast Lead. By the end of the conflict, medical facilities in Gaza were not adequate to respond to healthcare needs.[14] During the crisis, injured people were evacuated quickly to make room for new patients and did not receive the early medical care and follow-up physiotherapy needed. This resulted in later complications.[15]
In 2009, an unprecedented complexity of injuries was reported and a large number of injured persons required limb amputations.[16] The demand for the ALPC’s services increased significantly after the end of Operation Cast Lead.[17] During 2009, waiting lists increased and the center was overcrowded.[18] With ITF support, 33 child mine/ERW survivors from Gaza received rehabilitation at the University Rehabilitation Institute in Slovenia.[19]
A lack of access to economic and social inclusion assistance for all persons with disabilities worsened in 2009, with the greatest needs being in the areas of employment and education rather than physical rehabilitation.[20] However, several organizations, including the PRCS, worked to provide vocational training opportunities for persons with disabilities following Operation Cast Lead.[21]
OPT law ensures the provision of health and social insurance, economic opportunities, and equality for persons with disabilities.[22] Despite legislation mandating services, there was little focus on actual implementation due to the OPT’s limited financial resources.[23] Israel has legislation to serve the needs of persons with disabilities, but this legislation remained largely unimplemented.[24]
[1] Email from Sheila Black, Support Specialist and Programme Manager, UN Mine Action Team - Gaza Office (UNMAT-GO), 24 May 2010; and emails from Celine François, Programme Officer, UNMAT-GO, 28 May and 2 June 2010. This reporting does not include data on improvised explosive device casualties, which UNMAT-GO started collecting from 2010 onwards. Email from Ayed Abu Eqtaish, Program Manager, DCI/PS, 7 June 2010. UNMAT-GO reported 39 of the casualties: nine killed and 30 injured.
[2] Due to the sensitive situation in Gaza it was not possible to adequately determine the types of ERW or devices involved in incidents, and the status (civilian or military) of casualties was not recorded.
[3] Landmine Monitor analysis of media reports from 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2008; analysis of UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), “Protection of Civilians Weekly Report,” from 1 January to 31 December 2008; and information provided by email from Ayed Abu Eqtaish , DCI/PS, 15 April 2009.
[4] Operation Cast Lead 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 (DCI/PS: 1998), p. 14.
[6] Information for 1999 was not available.
[7] Handicap International (HI), “Meeting Minutes of Gaza Disability Sub-Cluster Meeting,” 7 September 2009, www.ochaopt.org.
[8] HI, “Meeting Minutes of Gaza Disability Sub-cluster meeting,” 8 January 2009, www.ochaopt.org.
[9] Chad McCoull, “Occupied Palestinian Territories,” Journal of Mine Action, Issue 12.1, Summer 2008, maic.jmu.edu.
[10] Telephone interview with Violaine Gagnet, Head of Mission, HI, 27 July 2008.
[11] Email from Celine François, UNMAT-GO, 28 May 2010.
[12] HI, “Meeting Minutes of Gaza Disability Sub-cluster meeting,” 19 February 2009, www.ochaopt.org.
[13] The organizations listed here were reported to include services for mine/ERW survivors during this period. Numerous providers of disability services exist in the OPT. Some 70 organizations were reported to be working in the field of disability since the 2009 conflict. See Dr. Kamal Abu Qamar, “Disability in Palestine,” 18 September 2009, www.palestine-family.net.
ICRC, “Annual Report 2009,” Geneva, May 2010, p.368; “PRCS holds a scientific day for its psychosocial workers,” 16 December 2009, www.palestinercs.org; PRCS, “Humanitarian Suffering during the last Israeli offensive on Gaza Strip and the Role of the Palestine Red Crescent Society,” 1 November 2009, www.palestinercs.org; ITF, “Annual Report 2009, Ljubljana, 2010, p. 87; and HI, “Meeting Minutes Disability Sub-cluster meeting,” 8 January 2009, www.ochaopt.org.
[14] ICRC, “Gaza: from Qatar with a mission,” 27 January 2009, www.cicr.org; and ICRC, “Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory: life remains hard for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank,” 16 February 2010, www.icrc.org.
[15] Eva Bartlett, “Prosthetics unavailable for Gaza amputees,” Islam Times, 13 August 2009, www.islamtimes.org.
[16] PRCS, “Humanitarian Suffering during the last Israeli offensive on Gaza Strip and the Role of the Palestine Red Crescent Society,” 1 November 2009, www.palestinercs.org.
[17] ALPS, “Who’s Us [sic],” www.alpc.ps.
[18] Eva Bartlett, “Prosthetics unavailable for Gaza amputees,” Islam Times, 13 August 2009, www.islamtimes.org.
[19] ITF, “Annual Report 2009,” Ljubljana, 2010, p. 87.
[20] Dr. Kamal Abu Qamar, “Disability in Palestine,” 18 September 2009, www.palestine-family.net.
[21] HI, “Meeting Minutes of Rafah and Khan Younis Disability Sub-Cluster Meeting,” 6 July 2009, www.ochaopt.org.
[22] Erik Bolstad and Tonje Merete Viken, “Basic Law of the Palestinian National Authority,” www.palestinianbasiclaw.org.
[23] Bethlehem University, “Prepared for Inclusion: BU Alumna and Advocate for Rights of the Disabled to Receive International,” 20 October 2009,” alumni.bethlehem.edu.
[24] US Department of State, “2009 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Israel and the occupied territories,” Washington, DC, 11 March 2010.
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