israeli Strikes and Firefight Kill 44 in Gaza Amid Ceasefire Calls
GAZA CITY, gaza strip – Israeli strikes and gunfire killed 44 Palestinians in Gaza on Friday, health officials said, as international pressure mounts for a ceasefire in the escalating conflict. The deaths add to a growing toll exceeding 34,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza since the start of the war, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
The mounting casualties come as negotiations for a ceasefire and the release of hostages continue,mediated by qatar,Egypt,and the United States. Hamas militants stormed into Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage. Forty-eight captives remain in Gaza, around 20 of them believed by Israel to be alive, after most of the rest were freed in ceasefires or other deals.The current conflict was triggered by that initial attack and has as devastated the Gaza Strip, pushing its population to the brink of famine.
the Gaza Health Ministry reported that Friday’s deaths occurred across multiple locations in Gaza, including areas in Gaza City and Rafah. Details remain scarce and are tough to independently verify amid ongoing fighting.
The healthcare system in Gaza is nearing collapse. Nearly two weeks into the current offensive, two clinics have been destroyed by airstrikes, two hospitals shut down after being damaged, and others are barely functioning, with critical shortages of medicine, equipment, food, and fuel. Many patients and staff have been forced to flee hospitals, leaving a minimal number of doctors and nurses to care for those too ill to move.
Aid group Doctors Without Borders suspended activities in Gaza City on friday, citing the proximity of Israeli tanks – less than a kilometer (half a mile) from its facilities – creating an “unacceptable level of risk” for its staff.The food situation in northern Gaza has also deteriorated, with Israel halting aid deliveries through its crossing into the north since Sept. 12 and increasingly rejecting U.N. requests to bring supplies from southern Gaza into the north, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 65,000 people and wounded more than 167,000 others,the Gaza Health Ministry said. The ministry acknowledges it doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants, but states that women and children comprise approximately half of the fatalities.While part of the hamas-run government, U.N. agencies and independent experts consider the ministry’s figures the most reliable wartime casualty estimate.
Magdy reported from Cairo, Egypt.
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