By WAFAA SHURAFA and SAMY MAGDY
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Greater than 45,000 Palestinians have now been killed within the conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas militants, Palestinian well being officers mentioned Monday, as often-stalled ceasefire negotiations gave the impression to be gaining floor once more.
Greater than 50 useless have been dropped at hospitals throughout the bombed-out territory over the previous 24 hours, Gaza’s Well being Ministry mentioned.
Qatar, Egypt and america have renewed efforts to dealer a ceasefire deal in latest days, and mediators have mentioned there seems to be extra willingness from each side after 14 months of conflict.
The well being ministry mentioned 45,028 folks have been killed and 106,962 others have been wounded because the conflict started, and warned that the true toll is larger as a result of hundreds of our bodies are buried below rubble or in areas that medics can’t entry.
The ministry’s rely doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants, however it has mentioned greater than half of fatalities are ladies and youngsters. The Israeli navy says it has killed greater than 17,000 militants, with out offering proof.
The conflict is by far the deadliest spherical of combating between Israel and Hamas, with the dying toll amounting to roughly 2% of Gaza’s prewar inhabitants of about 2.3 million.
A household dies as one other airstrike hits a shelter
Among the many newest killed have been 10 folks, together with a household of 4, in an in a single day Israeli strike in Gaza Metropolis’s japanese Shijaiyah neighborhood, Palestinian medics mentioned.
Israel claims Hamas is chargeable for the civilian dying toll as a result of it operates from inside civilian areas within the densely populated Gaza Strip. Rights teams and Palestinians say Israel has didn’t take enough precautions to keep away from civilian deaths.
The conflict started when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 folks, largely civilians, and abducting one other 250. Israel responded by heavy bombardment and a floor incursion into the Palestinian enclave. Round 100 hostages are nonetheless inside Gaza, not less than a 3rd believed to be useless. A lot of the relaxation have been launched throughout a ceasefire final yr.
A separate strike on a college on Sunday within the southern metropolis of Khan Younis killed not less than 13 folks, together with six kids and two ladies, in accordance with Nasser Hospital, the place the our bodies have been taken. The hospital initially reported the strike had killed 16 however later mentioned three our bodies had been from a separate strike.
Louise Wateridge, a spokeswoman for the United Nations reduction company for Palestinians, mentioned she met with kids injured in Sunday’s strike. They included a 17-year-old woman with a extreme leg harm and shrapnel wounds.
She survived alongside together with her twin sister and three different sisters, Wateridge mentioned, however their mom was killed. Wateridge mentioned one sister described “how their mom’s bones have been crushed below the rubble. There was nothing they might do to avoid wasting her.”
The Israeli navy mentioned it had struck Hamas fighters working inside a command middle embedded in a compound that had served as a college in Khan Younis. It didn’t present proof.
A Palestinian journalist is mourned
In central Gaza’s Nuseirat city refugee camp, mourners gathered for the funeral of a Palestinian journalist working for the Qatari-based Al Jazeera TV community who was killed Sunday in a strike that hit Gaza’s civil protection company. They carried his physique by way of the streets, alongside together with his bulletproof vest.
Al Jazeera mentioned Ahmad Baker Al-Louh, 39, had been overlaying rescue operations of a household wounded in an earlier bombing when he was killed.
The strike additionally killed three civil protection staff, together with the native head of the company, in accordance with Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. The civil protection is Gaza’s important rescue company and operates below the Hamas-run authorities.
The Worldwide Federation of Journalists mentioned final week that 104 journalists and media staff have been killed in 2024, with greater than half dying in Gaza.
The Israeli navy mentioned its strike focused Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants in a command middle embedded within the workplaces of the “Civil Protection” group. It accused the journalist of getting been a member of Islamic Jihad, which his colleagues in Gaza denied.
Gaza’s civil protection rejected the claims that militants operated from the positioning.
“We have been surprised by the Israeli occupation assertion,” Mahmoud al-Lawh, the journalist’s cousin, advised The Related Press. “These claims are lies and deceptive to cowl up this crime.”
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Magdy reported from Cairo.
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Observe AP’s conflict protection at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
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