Written by Nidal Al Mughrabi and Ibrahim Abu Mustafa
DOHA/GAZA (Reuters) – The enclave's health official said on Sunday that a Palestinian had died in the first Israeli attack on Gaza since October 7, as heavy Israeli attacks and urban fighting intensified across the Hamas-run area. announced that the death toll has exceeded 25,000.
Israeli forces and Hamas fighters clashed in several locations, from Jabalia in the north to Khan Yunis further south.
The Gaza Health Ministry said 178 Palestinians died in the past 24 hours, one of the deadliest days of the war so far. The Israeli army said one soldier was killed in the fighting.
A total of 25,105 Palestinians have been killed and 62,681 injured in Israeli attacks since October 7, the Gaza Ministry said in a statement. It does not distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths, but says most of those killed were civilians.
Israel's decision comes after Islamic extremists burst into Israel on October 7, rampaging through towns and bases in the south, killing 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and dragging 253 hostages into the enclave. The operation to eliminate Hamas has begun.
The Israeli military says it has cleared Hamas' military network from much of northern Gaza and that more than 1 million residents of the enclave have moved south to escape bombing. However, fighting continues in Jabalia refugee camp and other areas around Gaza City.
Palestinians still living in the area described dire conditions.
“We struggle to survive bombs, but frankly we struggle to survive hunger more. Finding food for our families and children is more important than surviving a war.” It has become a difficult adventure,” Amer, a 32-year-old father of three from northern Gaza, told Reuters. He sent the message via eSIM card, the only tool Gazans have to connect with the outside world during a nine-day communications outage.
The price of flour, for example, is rising along with other food items that are difficult to obtain in already poor regions.
“As the population of northern Gaza faced the threat of starvation, they began to grind whatever they could to make flour, starting with corn and extending to animal products.'' Palestinian freelance journalist Anas al-Sharif posted on X.
The Israeli military said its soldiers killed 15 Palestinian gunmen in fighting in the northern Gaza Strip and that snipers with air support “elimminated a number of terrorists” in Khan Yunis.
Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri rejected the Israeli explanation and the reported death toll, saying it was intended to “portray a false and delusional victory.”
Palestinians said heavy fighting has continued in Jabalia for the past three days. The sound of gunfire could be heard constantly from both the sky and the ground. Fires and smoke rose in some buildings where the bombs fell.
Along Gaza's southern coast, Israeli navy boats shelled the coast, witnesses said.
Three Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a car in the southern city of Rafah, home to more than 1 million displaced people. Three people were killed in another car crash in Gaza City, health officials said.
Violence is also surging in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where Hamas' rival Palestinian Authority has limited autonomy. The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced that Israeli forces have killed 360 Palestinians since October 7.
(Additional reporting by Ali Safta in Ramallah and Ali Rabinovich in Jerusalem; reporting and writing by Nidal al-Mughrabi; editing by Francis Kelly)
Copyright 2024 Thomson Reuters.
