Since the Gaza ceasefire went into effect on January 19, Israeli forces have killed more than 80 Palestinians across the Strip, Drop Site News reported on Wednesday.
Dr. Zaher al-Wahaidi, director of information for Gaza’s Health Ministry, told Drop Site that 49 of the dead were killed by Israeli troops in the southern city of Rafah, where many bodies remain buried under the rubble.
Al-Wahaidi also said that since January 19, 470 bodies have been recovered from the rubble, including 150 in Rafah. “We need caterpillars and bulldozers to clear up the wreckage and recover these corpses. People are getting back to literally nothing. Rafah is destroyed, and the killing and bombing continue there,” he said.
The Health Ministry said Wednesday in its daily update that Gaza hospitals received another 63 bodies over the previous 24-hour period. Fifty-nine of the bodies were recovered from the rubble, two Palestinians died of previously sustained wounds, and two were killed by Israeli forces in the past day.
In several instances, the Israeli military has claimed it opened fire on Palestinians who posed a “threat” to Israeli troops on the ground. But the IDF also shot and killed an unarmed Israeli contractor who was dressed in civilian clothes simply because he was walking toward Israeli troops, demonstrating the free rein Israeli soldiers have to fire on civilians.
Throughout the genocidal war in Gaza, Israeli troops have killed unarmed civilians and counted them as “terrorists,” a practice exposed by Israeli media reports.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said that the latest violence and the recovered bodies have brought the death toll since October 2023 to 47,417, a number that’s considered a significant undercount. A study published by The Lancet said the true death toll as of October 2024 was likely over 70,000, which only includes Palestinians killed by violence, not indirect deaths caused by the US-backed Israeli siege.