The catastrophic situation in the Gaza Strip. The Ministry of Health reported the number of victims

69,000 people died during the war. 169 Palestinians and 170 thousand 685 were injured, says Saturday's statement from the Gaza Strip's Ministry of Health. “Over the past three days, one person was killed in an Israeli attack and nine others died of their wounds,” we read. Last week, 284 previously killed people were also added to the list of fatalities.

Most fighting in the Gaza Strip stopped with the introduction of a ceasefire on October 10 in the war between Israel and Hamas, which has been ongoing since October 7, 2023. Most of the Gaza Strip is in ruins. Palestinian services estimate that approximately 10,000 people are still buried under the rubble. bodies. As the bodies are being recovered, the Ministry of Health is adding more victims to the list.

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Nearly 70,000 people died. people. Israel disputes data on Palestinian deaths

The Gaza Strip health ministry does not distinguish between civilian casualties and Hamas fighters in its tally of casualties. The latest announcements do not provide the number of women and children killed, but earlier reports stated that this group constituted nearly half of the fatalities.

Data provided by the Gaza Strip health ministry are widely considered reliable. This is how they are treated, among others, by: UN institutions. Balance sheets collected during previous conflicts generally matched those provided by independent institutions. However, Israeli authorities emphasize that the ministry is part of the civilian government of the territory controlled by Hamas.

Israel continues to shell the Gaza Strip

Despite the ceasefire, Israeli attacks occur almost every day. According to Gaza medical authorities, 241 Palestinians have died since the fighting officially stopped. Three soldiers were killed in attacks on Israeli troops.

The army said on Saturday that it had shot dead two terrorists in separate incidents who had crossed the demarcation line and were approaching troops in what was considered an immediate threat. According to earlier information from the media and the Palestinian authorities, civilians, including children, were also killed in Israeli attacks after the truce was concluded.

With the conclusion of the truce, the Israeli military withdrew to the previously established line, but still controls over half of the territory of the Gaza Strip.

As part of the first stage of the agreement negotiated with the participation of the US and Arab states, Hamas released the last 20 living hostages on October 13, and Israel released nearly 2,000 detained Palestinians.

The process of exchanging the bodies of the deceased is also ongoing. Hamas was to hand over the bodies of 28 killed hostages. So far, it has returned the remains of 23 people. The last one on Thursday evening. For each kidnapped person, Israel hands over the bodies of 15 Palestinians. Fifteen more bodies were released on Friday. In total, Israel returned the bodies of 300 people.

Humanitarian disaster in Gaza

An element of the truce was also to increase the flow of aid to the Palestinian territory ravaged by a humanitarian crisis. International organizations reported that more transports were being allowed through, while emphasizing that the aid was still too little.

— Since the ceasefire was introduced, Israel has rejected 107 requests for aid, UN spokesman Farhan Haq said on Thursday. According to the Organization's data, during the first ten days of the ceasefire, approximately 100 aid trucks arrived in the Gaza Strip per day, although meeting the basic needs of the Palestinians requires approximately 600 transports.

The war began on October 7, 2023, with a Hamas attack on southern Israel. Nearly 1.2 thousand people were killed there. people, and 251 were kidnapped. The Israeli army reports that 471 soldiers died in the fighting in the Gaza Strip.