More Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks as Gaza death toll exceeds 33,500
Relatives and friends pray by the body of Saif Abu Taha, a staff member of the US-based aid group World Central Kitchen who was killed as Israeli strikes hit a convoy of the NGO delivering food aid in Gaza a day earlier, during his funeral in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on April 2, 2024, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. (Photo by SAID KHATIB / AFP)
The unabated Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip have killed a total of 33,545 Palestinians since last October, the Health Ministry in the besieged enclave announced.
The raging bombardments have also injured 76,094 Palestinians, it added.
The ministry’s statement said: “63 martyrs and 45 injuries arrived at (Gaza) hospitals in the past 24 hours as a result of the Israeli occupation aggression on the Gaza Strip.”
“Many people are still trapped under rubble and on the roads and rescuers are unable to reach them,” it added.
The Gaza-based Health Ministry disclosed this as the raging war enters its 188th day.
Israel has been carrying out deadly military operations in the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas, which Tel Aviv says killed nearly 1,200 people.
According to the UN, the Israeli war on Gaza has caused 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure to be damaged or destroyed, and 85% of its inhabitants to be internally displaced due to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.
