Deaths in Gaza amount to nearly 1% of the territory’s prewar population

The Ministry of Health in Gaza said in a statement that 390 Palestinians were killed and 734 injured in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip in the past 48 hours.

So far, at least 20,057 Palestinians have been killed and 53,320 injured in the Gaza Strip since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas conflict on October 7, according to the Ministry on Friday as quoted by Xinhua news agency report.

Communication and Internet services gradually resumed in Gaza on Thursday night after nearly two days of interruption, according to a Palestinian security source who requested anonymity.

Israel has been attacking most of the Gaza Strip over the past two days from the air, land, and sea, while fighting between Israeli forces and armed Palestinian factions continued in most areas of Gaza except for Rafah, said the source.

Israel's war to destroy Hamas has killed more than 20,000 Palestinians, health officials in Gaza said Friday, as Israel expanded its offensive and ordered tens of thousands more people to leave their homes.

This handout photo shows Israeli soldiers operating in the Gaza Strip. AFP

The deaths in Gaza amount to nearly 1% of the territory’s prewar population — the latest indication of the 11-week-old conflict's staggering human toll.

Israel’s aerial and ground offensive has been one of the most devastating military campaigns in recent history, displacing nearly 85% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people and leveling wide swaths of the tiny coastal enclave. More than half a million people in Gaza - a quarter of the population — are starving, according to a report Thursday from the United Nations and other agencies.

Israel declared war after Hamas militants stormed across the border on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people and taking some 240 hostages. Israel has vowed to keep up the fight until Hamas is destroyed and removed from power in Gaza and all the hostages are freed.

Agencies