Gaza: Palestinian death toll nears 31,300
At least 88 people were killed and 135 others injured in Israeli attacks in Gaza during the last 24 hours
Gaza City, Palestine - The Palestinian death toll from Israel’s deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip since October 7 has soared to 31,272, the Health Ministry in the enclave said on Wednesday.
A ministry statement added that 73,024 people have also been injured in the onslaught.
“At least 88 people were killed and 135 others injured in Israeli attacks in the last 24 hours,” the ministry said.
“Many people are still trapped under rubble and on the roads as rescuers are unable to reach them,” it added.
According to the ministry, around 72 per cent of the Palestinian victims were women and children.
Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas, which Tel Aviv says killed nearly 1,200 people.
The Israeli war has pushed 85 per cent of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60 per cent of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.
Raids in West Bank
Israeli forces detained 10 more Palestinians in fresh raids carried out across the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, according to prisoners’ affairs groups.
Most of the arrests took place in the town of Beit Ummar near Hebron, while the rest were taken into custody in the cities of Ramallah, Tubas, and Jenin, the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a joint statement. The new arrests brought to 7,565 Palestinians detained by Israeli forces in the West Bank since October 7, 2023, according to Palestinian figures.
At least 433 Palestinians have since been killed and over
4,700 others injured by Israeli army fire in the occupied territory, according to the Health Ministry.
‘Increase humanitarian aid’
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Tuesday that Israel is responsible for the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip by obstructing the
delivery of aid.
“We have to increase humanitarian aid (into Gaza). But keep in mind that this humanitarian crisis is not being caused by a natural disaster. It is not a flood, it is not an earthquake. It is a man-made humanitarian disaster,” Borrell told reporters at the UN, adding the EU is increasing its humanitarian assistance.
“We have to mobilise the international community, but it is urgent that Israeli authorities stop impeding humanitarian access,” he added.
Borrell noted that Israel’s obstruction of humanitarian aid to Gaza is the ‘main problem’, saying that delivering aid by air or sea cannot be an alternative to land routes.
“We cannot substitute hundreds of tons and hundreds of tracks coming by road with an airborne operation,” he said.
Israel government ‘in jeopardy’
The US intelligence community has warned that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government “may be in jeopardy” amid growing public discontent against his leadership.
“Netanyahu’s viability as leader as well as his governing coalition of far-right and ultraorthodox parties that pursued hardline policies on Palestinian and security issues may be in jeopardy,” the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) said in a report made public Monday.
“Distrust of Netanyahu’s ability to rule has deepened and broadened across the public from its already high levels before the war, and we expect large protests demanding his resignation and new elections. A different, more moderate government is a possibility,” it added.
Netanyahu has faced mounting demands for his resignation as the war in the Gaza Strip, now in its 157th day, has dragged on.
The intelligence community assessed Iran’s leaders ‘did not orchestrate nor had foreknowledge of’ the Hamas-led crossborder attack against Israel on October 7 that ignited the war, appearing to answer a question that was raised in the immediate aftermath of the attack because of Tehran’s long-standing support for Hamas.
Less than 1,200 people were killed in the attack, and 250 others were taken back to Gaza as hostages. More than 130 remain in the coastal enclave, though it is unclear how many died in captivity.
Concern for the hostages has added further fuel to a litany of long-standing grievances across the Israeli political spectrum against Netanyahu.
The war has raged unabated, however, and Israel has continued to restrict the flow of humanitarian assistance into the territory.