GAZA CITY: The health ministry in Gaza reported on Tuesday that at least 39,090 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in more than nine months of ongoing Israeli bombardment campaign in the besieged Palestinian territory since October 7.
In the latest surge of Israeli violence, Gaza officials reported 84 deaths in the past 24 hours alone, alongside 90,147 persons wounded since October 7.
The toll includes casualties from an intensive Israeli operation launched in Khan Younis on Monday, where the death toll surged to 73, including 24 children and 15 women, with over 270 others injured.
The Gaza government media office reported an even higher toll of 89 deaths in the same period from the operation.
Israeli airstrikes pounded Khan Younis early Monday morning, catching families by surprise during breakfast and prompting thousands to flee from what had been designated as a “humanitarian area” now under evacuation orders.
Meanwhile, violence also escalated in the occupied West Bank, where Palestinian officials reported that an Israeli raid on Tuesday resulted in the deaths of five Palestinians, including a woman and her daughter. The Israeli military claimed to have “eliminated” a commander of Hamas during a pre-dawn operation in Tulkarem refugee camp.
Israeli military spokespersons stated that Ashraf Nafea, head of the military wing of Hamas in Tulkarem, was targeted for his alleged involvement in manufacturing and deploying explosives against Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) personnel.
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Hamas sources confirmed the deaths, denouncing what they termed as a “cowardly assassination” of Commander Ashraf Eid Nafea and his associates.
Faisal Salamah, head of the camp committee, confirmed the casualties, revealing that Israeli forces killed five people, including the mother-daughter duo and three young men struck by a drone.
The raid in Tulkarem left devastating effects, with the Palestinian Red Crescent reporting multiple injuries, including bullet wounds and shrapnel injuries treated on-site.
In another incident near Hebron in the southern West Bank, Israeli forces killed two Palestinians in the town of Sa’ir during an operation.
