GAZA, Palestine: At least 60 Palestinians were killed and 162 wounded in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, Gaza’s Ministry of Health reported on Saturday, as the total death toll since the war began in October 2023 surpassed 50,669.
According to the ministry, the number of Palestinians killed since 7 October 2023 now stands at 50,669, while 115,225 others have been injured in the ongoing Israeli military campaign.
The figures also include 1,309 deaths since Israel resumed its assault on 18 March, following the collapse of a temporary ceasefire.
“The death toll from the Israeli aggression has risen to 50,669 martyrs and 115,225 wounded since October 7,” the ministry said in a statement.
Emergency response teams continue to face severe difficulties reaching victims, with many dead bodies still trapped under rubble or lying in the streets.
The health ministry and rescue services blame Israeli forces for deliberately obstructing the movement of ambulances and civil defence teams.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has warned of worsening humanitarian conditions.
“Since the war in Gaza started, around 1.9 million people – including thousands of children – have gone through repeated forced displacement amid bombardment, fear, and loss,” the agency said on social media.
It added that over 142,000 people have been displaced since Israel resumed its bombing campaign on 18 March.
As Palestinians marked Palestinian Child’s Day on Friday – an annual observance introduced by the late leader Yasser Arafat – the Hamas group issued a statement demanding that Israel be held accountable for the killing of children in Gaza.
Citing data from the health ministry, the group said around 19,000 children have been killed and approximately 39,000 have lost one or both parents.
“Impunity encourages the occupation to escalate its crimes against Palestinian children, amid international inaction,” Hamas said.
“We call on human rights organisations to assume their responsibilities in exposing the crimes of the occupation and working diligently to protect Palestinian children.”
UNRWA also reported that since the resumption of Israeli attacks, at least 100 children have been killed or injured in Gaza each day.
“Young lives are being cut short in a war not of children’s making,” the agency posted on social media, adding that the war has turned Gaza into a “no land” for children.
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Meanwhile, Israeli airstrikes early Friday killed at least 38 Palestinians, according to the medical director of al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, who said the facility is now beyond capacity and unable to treat additional casualties.
Hamas’s armed wing warned on Friday that the lives of Israeli hostages held in Gaza are increasingly at risk.
Spokesman Abu Obeida said in a statement that half of the living hostages are in areas targeted for evacuation by Israeli forces, calling the situation “highly dangerous” and blaming Israel’s military operations for the threat to their safety.
The humanitarian crisis further deepened following the killing of 15 aid workers on 23 March, in what the United Nations and the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) say was an Israeli military attack. A
mong the dead were eight PRCS staff, six members of Gaza’s civil defence agency, and one UNRWA employee.
Their bodies were found buried near Rafah in what the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) described as a mass grave.
Footage retrieved from the mobile phone of one of the slain aid workers, Rifat Radwan, shows clearly marked ambulances and emergency lights flashing before gunfire erupts.
The PRCS said the video “unequivocally refutes the occupation’s claims” that the vehicles lacked proper identification or were acting suspiciously.
The video captures medics exiting their vehicles before gunfire breaks out, with one heard reciting the shahada – the Islamic declaration of faith – moments before the screen goes dark.
PRCS said the convoy had been responding to urgent calls for help from civilians in Rafah when it came under attack.
OCHA’s head in the Palestinian territories, Jonathan Whittall, confirmed that the bodies were found in uniform and with gloves still on.
UN Human Rights Commissioner Volker Turk condemned the attack, calling for an independent investigation and warning that the incident could constitute a war crime.
The Israeli military has said its forces fired on vehicles without prior clearance and that the bodies were covered to prevent damage until international coordination for retrieval could take place. The army has launched an investigation into the incident.
