Gaza death toll crosses 25,000
Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry yesterday said the death toll in the Palestinian territory breached 25,000 as Israel pushed its southward offensive and renewed bombardment in the north.
Alongside fierce fighting in southern Gaza and across the besieged territory, strikes in Syria and Iraq raised fears of a wider conflagration.
A total of 25,105 Palestinians have been killed and 62,681 have been injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since October 7, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement yesterday. Some 178 Palestinians were killed and 293 injured in the past 24 hours, the ministry added.
An AFP correspondent reported gunfire, air strikes and tank shelling that was especially heavy in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza's main city. Witnesses also told AFP that Israeli boats were bombarding Gaza City and other areas in the north early yesterday.
In Rafah, near the border with Egypt, at least five people were killed in a strike that hit what the Gaza health ministry said was a civilian car.
Israel is pressing its push southwards against Hamas, after the military said in early January the group's command structure in northern Gaza had been dismantled, leaving only isolated fighters.
Violence has also surged in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where the military said it had demolished two houses in Hebron that it said had belonged to two Palestinian gunmen who had carried out an attack on a road between Jerusalem and Bethlehem in November.
The official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian fighters in the West Bank village of Maithalun, south of Jenin, as well as in the West Bank towns of Arura and Qalqilya.
But Hamas has also reported heavy combat in the north of Gaza as Israel's military said its troops, backed by air and naval support, were striking the group's infrastructure throughout the Palestinian territory.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Uganda the Palestinian right to statehood "must be recognised by all" and that its denial was "unacceptable".
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA said about 1.7 million people have been displaced in enclave, with about one million crowded into the Rafah area.
The UN humanitarian agency OCHA reported just 15 bakeries operating across Gaza and that the availability of water "is shrinking every day". UN agencies have warned better aid access is needed urgently as famine and disease loom.
France's newly appointed Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne issued a short statement on X affirming Palestinians' right to sovereignty, reports Al Jazeera online. "France will remain faithful to its commitment to achieve this goal," he said.
Sejourne's comments come in the wake of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's public comments stating his opposition to the idea of Palestinian statehood.
Rising tensions and violence across the Middle East have also stoked fears of a wider conflagration involving Iran-backed groups in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen.
Iran's foreign minister said yesterday reported Israeli strikes on Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) personnel in Syria will not deter Tehran from operating across the region.
- Israeli boats bombarded Gaza City, other areas in north
- 178 killed in 24 hours in enclave
- 1.7m people displaced in Gaza: UNRWA
- The availability of water 'shrinking every day': OCHA
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