There was no end to the war in Gaza
The Gaza civilian death toll rises to 25,000 in a day of conflict between Israel and the territory’s Hamas rulers
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — The Palestinian death toll in Gaza from over three months of war between Israel and the territory’s Hamas rulers has soared past 25,000, the Gaza Health Ministry said Sunday.
According to the Health Ministry, at least 178 people were brought to Gaza’s hospitals in a single day.
In October, Hamas launched a surprise attack into Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostages, most of them men, women and children.
The military of Israel did not respond immediately to the request. On Sunday, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that Israeli forces in southern Gaza were acting with great precision and would be “expanding” their operations in Khan Younis.
Hundreds of thousands of Gaza’s population have left their homes, and are now in UN-run shelters and tent camps in the south of the enclave. U.N. officials say a quarter of the population of 2.3 million is starving as only a trickle of humanitarian aid enters because of the fighting and Israeli restrictions.
The ministry doesn’t distinguish between civilians and soldiers, but it does state that most of the people killed were women and children.
The Israeli military says it has killed around 9,000 militants, without providing evidence, and blames the high civilian death toll on Hamas because it fights in dense, residential neighborhoods.
Nearly half of the captives were released during a weeklong cease-fire in November in exchange for the release of scores of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Israel says some 130 remain in captivity, but only around 100 are believed to still be alive.
Israeli tanks and troops reinforcements descended on southern Gaza on Monday, after medical personnel reported heavy exchanges of gunfire in the area.
Many people were killed and wounded in the city of Khan Younis on Monday, but no specific figure was given by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society. The director of surgery at the largest hospital in southern Gaza told Al Jazeera in an interview that it had received 100 wounded people and 50 bodies.
Naseem Hasan, an ambulance officer at Nasser, said in an interview that tanks were about 100 meters south of the hospital and “can target anyone.” He said one ambulance carrying a person who had been shot in the head was not able to reach Nasser this morning and had to go to a hospital in Rafah — a journey that took three hours.
In a statement, the Red Crescent said the presence of Israeli troops near Al-Amal Hospital, which it operates, meant that its ambulances could not reach the injured in Khan Younis. It said that anyone attempting to move around the area was coming under fire.
A spokeswoman for the Red Crescent said Khan Younis was very dangerous. “The whole district of Khan Younis is essentially besieged.”
Wafa reported on Monday that several people, including a teacher, had been killed and wounded at a school in the area after an Israeli strike. The report couldn’t be independently verified. The displaced people were taken into the school by the Israeli military, who told them Al-MAwasi was a safe area.
He said the smoke from the tanks, air force, and fire departments will cover the skies of the Gaza Strip until they achieve their goal of ousting Hamas and returning the hostages to their homes.
In the Gaza health ministry’s previous 24 hours, it said 190 people were killed and 340 were wounded in Israeli strikes. It was not clear how many people had died in Khan Younis.
The death toll in Gaza from over three months of conflict between Israel and the territory’s Hamas rulers has reached over 25,000, the Gaza Health Ministry said on Sunday. According to the ministry, at least 178 people were brought to Gaza’s hospitals in a single day. Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said that Israeli forces in southern Gaza were acting with great precision.