Gaza death toll nears 45,000 as Israel kills more Palestinians
- 2 hours ago
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Friday that at least 44,875 people have been killed in more than 14 months of war between Israel and Palestinian fighters. The toll includes 40 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry, which said 106,454 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began when Ha
Dozens of relatives wept and recited verses from the Koran, Islam's holy book, at a Gaza Strip hospital on Friday before burying some of the 33 Palestinians killed in an Israeli airstrike on a post office where they had been sheltering.
Medics said families displaced by the 14-month-old conflict had sought refuge in the postal facility in Nuseirat camp. The attack late on Thursday damaged several houses nearby.
Israel said it was targeting a senior Islamic Jihad member when it hit the structure.
Some of the bodies gathered al Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat were wrapped in white shrouds and others in blankets from home. The families accompanied them on a walk to their graves.
"They have killed the hope and optimism," said Suheil Mattar, whose grandchildren and daughter-in-law were killed.
"Every time things happen and we say there will be a truce and we will rest... After that, they change their minds, they change their minds, we don't know why," Mattar said.
Months of ceasefire efforts by Arab mediators Egypt and Qatar, backed by the United States, have failed to conclude a deal between the two warring sides.
Israel said it had targeted an Islamic Jihad leader of attacks on Israeli civilians and troops. It accused the group of exploiting civilian infrastructure and the population as a human shield for its activities. It did not identify the Islamic Jihad member by name.
Nuseirat is one of the Gaza Strip’s eight historic camps originally for Palestinian refugees from the 1948 war around the establishment of Israel.
Agencies
