Gaza death toll reaches 33,843

The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza said on Tuesday that 33,843 people had been killed in the territory since the start of the war more than six months ago.

The Palestinian territory’s health authorities reported the deaths of 46 people over the past 24 hours and added that 76,575 people had been injured since the war began.

Israel’s ongoing offensive was gradually expanded throughout the territory, with more than a million Gaza residents displaced to Rafah in the south, considered one of the last safe places in the strip.

Israel’s leadership last week said a date had been set for a planned offensive in Rafah. Hamas is classified as a terrorist organisation by many countries including US, Germany and Israel.

UN commission accuses Israel of obstructing October 7 probe

Former UN rights chief Navi Pillay says Israel is preventing UN investigators from speaking to witnesses and victims of the October 7 terror attack in southern Israel.

Pillay is chairing a UN-mandated commission of inquiry to investigate all alleged violations of international humanitarian and human rights law in Israel and Palestinian territories.

“I deplore the fact that people inside Israel who wish to speak to us are being denied that opportunity, because we cannot get access into Israel,” Pillay said.

“So far as the government of Israel is concerned, we have not only seen a lack of cooperation, but active obstruction of our efforts to receive evidence from Israeli witnesses and victims to the events that occurred in southern Israel,” said Chris Sidoti, one of three members of a commission of inquiry.

Sidoti appealed to the government of Israel, as well as victims and witnesses of the attack, to assist with the work of the commission as it conducted its probe.

The Israeli diplomatic mission in Geneva said it had been carrying out its own investigation.