The Gaza Health Ministry reported Wednesday that the Palestinian loss of life toll within the 20-month Israeli assaults on the enclave has surpassed 55,000, with girls and youngsters accounting for greater than half of the casualties.
This grim milestone marks the continued battle that started with Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, incursion on southern Israel.
Israel maintains it targets solely Hamas, blaming civilian deaths on the group for embedding its members inside densely populated areas.
The ministry says 55,104 folks have been killed for the reason that begin of the struggle and 127,394 wounded.
Many extra are believed to be buried underneath rubble or in areas inaccessible to native medics.
Israeli forces have destroyed huge areas of Gaza, displaced about 90% of its inhabitants and in current weeks, have remodeled greater than half of the coastal territory right into a army buffer zone that features the now largely uninhabited southern metropolis of Rafah.
A two-and-a-half-month blockade imposed by Israel after it ended a cease-fire with Hamas raised fears of famine and was barely eased in May.
The launch of a brand new Israeli- and U.S.-backed help system has been marred by chaos and violence, and the U.N. says it has struggled to herald meals due to Israeli restrictions, a breakdown of legislation and order, and widespread looting.
Israel accuses Hamas of siphoning off help, however the U.N. and help teams deny there may be any systematic diversion of help.
Hamas has suffered main army setbacks, and Israel says it has killed greater than 20,000 of its members, with out offering proof.
55 hostages are nonetheless being held in Gaza.
The assaults started following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, incursion on southern Israel, which killed 1,200 folks and kidnapped 251 hostages.
More than half the captives have been launched in cease-fires or different offers.
Israeli forces have rescued eight and recovered the stays of dozens extra.
Israel’s army marketing campaign, one of many deadliest and most damaging since World War II, has remodeled massive components of cities into mounds of rubble.
Hundreds of 1000’s of persons are residing in squalid tent camps and unused colleges, and the well being system has been gutted, even because it copes with waves of wounded from Israeli strikes.
Source: www.dailysabah.com