UN chief António Guterres denounces Israel for “heartbreaking” deaths of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
The Palestinian death toll during the Israeli attack on Gaza has exceeded 25,000, according to the territory’s health ministry.
Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said Sunday that 178 people had been confirmed killed in the previous 24 hours, with the death toll in more than three months of Israel’s war on Gaza reaching 25,105.
Israeli bombing began after Hamas’ surprise attack on southern Israel on October 7, which killed at least 1,139 people, according to an Tel Aviv Tribune tally based on official Israeli statistics. In Israel, around 250 other people were taken hostage by Palestinian armed groups.
From Rafah in southern Gaza, Tel Aviv Tribune’s Hani Mahmoud said there was intense ground fighting near a key hospital in Khan Younis on Sunday.
“Snipers took up positions in high-rise buildings and shot people in the street below. The people in the hospital (Nasser) have nowhere to go,” Mahmoud said, adding that “it’s fighting from street to street, from house to house.”
The day before, Israeli bombings east of the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza killed four Palestinians and injured 21 others, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.
“Heartbreaking” deaths, says UN chief
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has denounced Israel for the “heartbreaking” deaths of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
“Israeli military operations have caused massive destruction and killed civilians on an unprecedented scale during my tenure as secretary-general,” Guterres said at the opening of the G77+China summit in Kampala, the Ugandan capital.
Guterres told Tel Aviv Tribune that resolving the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict lies in “accepting the Palestinian right to one state and accepting a two-state solution.”
The comments come a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doubled down on his opposition to Palestinian statehood.
At least 62,681 people were injured in the Israeli attack on Gaza, according to Palestinian authorities.
Around 85 percent of the territory’s population has been displaced, and thousands of people have found refuge in UN-run camps in the southern part of the coastal enclave, in squalid conditions.
The UN has said there are “famine-like” conditions in Gaza, with around one in four of its 2.3 million residents facing extreme hunger.
Only a fraction of the aid needed has been delivered due to the fighting and severe Israeli restrictions on shipments.
Women and children are the greatest victims of war, according to the UN.
Netanyahu has vowed to continue the offensive until Hamas is eliminated, while Israel is also escalating fighting on other fronts, sparking fears of regional tensions.
