GAZA: The health ministry in Gaza on Sunday said that at least 37,598 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in the besieged territory during more than eight months of Israeli bombardment and ground offensive.
According to the health ministry statement, the toll includes at least 47 deaths over the past 24 hours, while 86,032 have been injured in the Gaza Strip since the war started between Israel and Hamas on October 7.
Meanwhile, Israeli tanks have reached the edge of the Al Mawasi refugee camp in the northwest of the Gaza city of Rafah.
Images of two Israeli tanks on a hilltop overlooking the coastal area went viral on social media, however, the Western media reported that the information could not be independently verified.
“The fighting with the resistance has been intense. The occupation forces are overlooking the Mawasi area now, which forced families there to head for Khan Younis,” said one resident, who asked not to be named, on a chat app.
Residents said Israeli tanks had moved deeper into western and northern Rafah in recent days, blowing up dozens of residential buildings.
On Saturday, Palestinian health officials said at least 40 Palestinians had been killed in separate Israeli assaults in northern districts of Gaza, where the Israeli army said it had hit Hamas’s military infrastructure. Hamas, however, said the targets were the civilian population.
Israeli defence minister heads to US
In another major development, the defence minister of Israel has departed for the United States to hold important meetings in Washington to address the war in Gaza as the pressure mounts on Israel to stop the military offensive.
Yoav Gallant’s visit comes amid a crisis in relations between the government of Benjamin Netanyahu and the administration of US President Joe Biden.
