The number of Palestinians killed since Israel launched his war against Gaza in October 2023 crossed 50,000, according to health officials.
The Gaza Ministry of Health said on Sunday that at least 50,021 Palestinians had been killed and that 113,274 injured since Israel began to attack the besieged territory following an attack led by the Palestinian group of Hamas on October 7, 2023. It was estimated that 1,139 people were killed and some 250 were taken captive in the attack on the south of Israel.
The number of deaths is expected to increase while Israeli forces have hit the surgical building inside the Nasser medical complex in Khan Younis on Sunday, causing the rupture of a large fire, the Ministry of Health said.
The Israeli intelligence army and the intelligence agency Shin Bet in a statement confirmed the attack, saying that their forces have targeted “a key member of Hamas in the hospital, one of the largest health establishments in Gaza.
Earlier, medical sources told Tel Aviv Tribune that at least 46 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli attacks on Sunday, mainly in the southern cities of Gaza in Khan Younis and Rafah.
Israel rekindled his war against Gaza after his refusal to conclude the second phase of a cease-fire contract he had signed with Hamas in January.
The seizure of phase 2 would have forced Israel to withdraw its forces from Gaza – a condition that it accepted in the agreement mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the United States. Even during phase 1, which entered into force on January 19 and saw the release of captives in exchange for Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons, Israel killed more than 150 Palestinians in Gaza.
Reporting Gaza City in northern Gaza, Hani Mahmoud of Tel Aviv Tribune said that the number of deaths announced was a “very dark and horrible stage”.
“For the record, the figure of 50,000 is only a conservative estimate. It is only the people who have been recorded in health establishments of the Gaza Strip. There are so many others buried without being recorded or who have disappeared, trapped under a lot of rubble,” said Mahmoud.
“Out of more than 50,000 killed, 17,000 are children. An entire generation has been wiped out. These children would have affected the way their society would have progressed-politically, economically and intellectually,” he added.
The number of confirmed deaths does not include more than 11,000 people who have disappeared and presumed dead, according to the Gaza media office, while a study published last July in Lancet Journal said that the accumulative effects of the War of Israel on Gaza could mean that the number of real deaths could reach more than 186,000 people.
Israel has repeatedly said that his attacks carefully target members of Hamas, but the number of civilians killed tells a different story, according to analysts.
“Israel has made these types of baseless claims in the last 17 months, which are not completely supported by the evidence in the field,” said Middle East Board on World Affairs in Tel Aviv Tribune on World Affairs.
“If anything, evidence often highlights deliberate targeting of civilians and civil infrastructure, which explains the massive number of dead for children.”
Forced evacuations
Meanwhile, the Israeli army called on Sunday residents of the south of Gaza, the city of Rafah, to evacuate by force while its troops began operations in the region.
He said the Israeli troops had surrounded the Tal Astlain district of Rafah.
Israel has been accused of having targeted on several occasions called “sure areas” where it forced people to take refuge.
The Israeli army also announced that it was carrying out operations in Beit Hanoon in northern Gaza.
Last week, Israel resumed his attacks, breaking the ceasefire after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he would continue a military path to put Hamas to accept an agreement to release the remaining captives, which were not exchanged in the January ceasefire agreement.
Hamas reiterates that it is ready to release all the captives if Israel agrees to enter phase 2 of the previous truce agreement.
Since Tuesday, Israel has killed more than 600 people, including more than 200 children.
Earlier, Hamas announced that its official Salah al-Bardawil had been killed in an Israeli attack on his tent in Khan Younis in the early hours of Sunday.
The Israeli military offensive comes while Gaza has been in shock from a total blockade by Israel since the beginning of March which caused a serious shortage of food, water, drugs and fuel in the territory. The Amnesty International rights group said that the reduction in electricity supply to a desalination plant in Gaza was “cruel and illegal”.
Rights defense groups, assistance agencies and a number of countries, including France, Germany and the United Kingdom, have called Israel to allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.