Gaza death toll from Israeli attacks nears 18,800
News Desk :
The Palestinian death toll from the ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has soared to 18,787 since Oct. 7, the Health Ministry said on Thursday.
Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said that 50,897 other people were injured in the Israeli offensive, reports Anadolu Agency.
“At least 179 people were killed and 303 others injured in the past hours,” the spokesman added during a press conference.
“A large number of the victims remain under the rubble and on the roads,” al-Qudra said.
Israel has bombarded the Gaza Strip from the air and land, imposed a siege, and mounted a ground offensive in retaliation for a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7.
Nearly 1,200 people are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack, while around 139 hostages remain in captivity.
Israel bombarded Gaza on Thursday in its war against Hamas militants as a top White House adviser travelled to Jerusalem with a rift growing over civilian casualties.
The war, now in its third month, began after the Palestinian group’s unprecedented October 7 attacks on Israel that Israeli officials say killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
In response, Israel vowed to destroy Hamas and launched a relentless bombardment and ground invasion that has left swathes of Gaza in ruins. The health ministry in the Hamas-run territory said 18,787 people have been killed, mostly women and children.
Israeli air strikes across Gaza overnight killed at least 67 more, the health ministry said earlier.
In Gaza’s southern city of Khan Yunis, smoke rose from a grey landscape of rubble which people combed with shovels and their bare hands after a strike. One man sat on the broken concrete, wiping his eyes.
“Around four people are still stuck under the rubble” after an airplane hit the building “without a warning”, said Hassan Bayyout, 70.
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where violence since October 7 has surged to levels unseen in nearly two decades, the Palestinian health ministry said “a young man died from his wounds” received during an Israeli raid in Jenin, a militant stronghold.
US President Joe Biden, whose government has provided Israel with billions of dollars in military aid, delivered his sharpest rebuke of the war this week. He said Israel’s “indiscriminate bombing” of Gaza was eroding international support.
But Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to carry on “until victory” and Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said the war would continue “with or without international support”.
