The Palestinian death toll has now reached 4,473 as Israeli forces continue to intensify their assault on the Gaza Strip since the start of their aggression in response to the surprise attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on 7 October that left 1,400 people dead in southern Israel.
The Gaza health ministry said 4,137 people had been killed in Gaza, as confirmed by hospitals, and more than 14,000 wounded, stressing that 70 percent of the dead were children, women and the elderly. As more people are killed and wounded in the attacks and bodies are pulled from the rubble of their destroyed homes, the numbers are expected to multiply.
In the West Bank, Israeli forces have killed 84 Palestinians and wounded more than 1,400.
The latest report from the United Nations (UN) on the war in Gaza confirms the figures from the Gaza ministry, stressing that 352 people had been killed in the city in the previous 24 hours.
According to the UN update, more than 1,000 people are believed to be trapped under the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israeli air strikes and artillery.
At least 30 percent of Gaza’s homes have been destroyed or damaged by Israeli strikes, UN officials say.
Hamas releases two hostages
Israel showed no sign of de-escalating, while Hamas released two US citizens held by it “for humanitarian reasons and to prove to the American people and the world that the claims made by [US President Joe] Biden and his fascist administration are false and baseless”, as Hamas said. The release of the 17-year-old and her mother was brokered by Qatar.
A Hamas official also said in an interview with Al Jazeera following the release of the two US prisoners that the militant group would release civilian hostages if the Israeli military halted its aggression. However, he drew a distinction between “civilians” and “military and settler elements” held by the group.
Hamas had previously said it would release the hostages immediately if Israel stopped bombing Gaza City.
Limited aid reaches Gaza: “a drop in the ocean”
On the 14th day of Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip, humanitarian aid trucks carrying food and medicine have finally begun to enter the strip through the only Egyptian-Gaza crossing. Initially, as announced by US President Joe Biden on Thursday, only a total of 20 trucks carrying vital humanitarian supplies will be allowed into Gaza. Aid groups have repeatedly warned that this is not enough for Gazans displaced by Israeli evacuation orders.
“We are talking about two million people… 20 trucks will be a drop in the ocean,” said the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the world’s largest humanitarian network.
Israel demands hospital evacuation
Some 12,000 displaced people, 70 percent of them children and women, are in imminent danger after Israeli forces threatened to bomb the Al-Quds hospital and demanded its evacuation, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said on Friday.
Gaza’s oldest church hit: 18 deaths
Israel bombed Gaza’s oldest church, used as a shelter for displaced people, on Friday. At least 18 people were killed. Israeli authorities said their forces targeted a Hamas command centre near the Greek Orthodox church.
Amnesty calls for war crimes probe
Amnesty International has released a report alleging that Israel’s “unlawful attacks” have caused mass civilian casualties and must be investigated as war crimes.
