Palestine

Casualties

Last updated: 10 October 2018

 

Casualties

All known casualties (between 1967 and 2017)

3,653 mine/unexploded remnants of war (ERW) casualties

Casualties in 2017[1]

Annual total

28

Increase from
15 in 2016

Survival outcome

1 killed; 27 injured

Device type causing casualties

28 ERW

Civilian status

28 civilians

 

Age and gender

13 adults:
2 women; 11 men

15 children:
13 boys; 2 girls

 

Of the 28 casualties in the State of Palestine in 2017, four occurred in the West Bank and 24 occurred in Gaza.

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 2017 data represented an increase from the 15 recorded for 2016. However, both years marked a significant decrease from the 74 recorded for 2015, and the 69 recorded for 2014. The annual casualty total for 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 were 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 2017, the Monitor identified 1,153 casualties (173 killed; 967 injured; and 13 unknown).

 



[1] Unless otherwise indicated, casualty data for 2017 is based on: emails from Doran Bahadur Sunuwar, Officer in Charge, UNMAS, 5 April 2018; and from the Palestine Mine Action Center (PMAC), 28 June 2018.

[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, 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.