GAZA CITY, Palestine: The death toll in the Gaza Strip has risen to 72,072 since the war between Israel and Hamas began on October 7, 2023, Palestinian health authorities said on Sunday, despite a US-backed ceasefire.
In a statement, Gaza’s health authorities said 171,738 people had been wounded since the conflict erupted.
One body and 10 wounded people were brought to hospitals in the past 48 hours, they added.
The updated toll comes amid reports of Israeli air strikes and shelling despite a truce that took effect on October 10 last year.
Ceasefire violations
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, 612 Palestinians have been killed and 1,640 wounded since the ceasefire came into effect.
The Palestinian news agency Wafa put the post-truce death toll slightly higher at 614.
Early Sunday, Israeli warplanes targeted eastern areas of Rafah in southern Gaza, eyewitnesses told Turkiye’s Anadolu Agency.
Israeli military vehicles also opened fire on eastern parts of Khan Younis, while naval forces fired towards the coastline, witnesses said.
In Gaza City, fighter jets carried out air strikes on eastern districts, accompanied by sporadic artillery shelling, according to local residents.
On Saturday, Israeli air strikes killed at least two Palestinians in northern Gaza’s Jabalia camp and in the Qizan an-Najjar area in southern Gaza, local media reported.
Israel’s military appeared to acknowledge one of the incidents in a post on X, saying its forces killed a fighter who had crossed onto Israel’s side of the demarcation line in northern Gaza and approached troops “in a manner that posed an immediate threat”.
The army said it would “continue to act to remove any immediate threat”.
Reconstruction efforts
The renewed violence comes days after US President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” held its first meeting on Gaza’s reconstruction, security and governance.
Trump said nine countries had pledged $7 billion towards rebuilding the territory, in addition to a $10 billion US contribution.
The combined amount remains far below the estimated $70 billion required to reconstruct the devastated enclave.
He also said five countries had agreed to contribute troops to a proposed 20,000-strong International Stabilisation Force (ISF), which would assume security responsibilities from Hamas.
However, the next phase of the ceasefire deal, which calls for Hamas to disarm, remains unresolved.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that Hamas must relinquish its weapons before reconstruction begins.
A senior aide said last week that Israel planned to give the group a 60-day deadline to comply before resuming military operations. Hamas rejected the ultimatum.
Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said the group would not give up its weapons as long as Israel continued occupying the Strip.
He said Hamas was open to a peacekeeping force to monitor the ceasefire and act as a buffer, provided it did not interfere in Gaza’s internal affairs.
