Gaza’s Health Ministry said Thursday that Israeli attacks killed at least 40 Palestinians and wounded 146 over the previous 24 hours as strikes pounded targets across the Strip amid a total Israeli blockade.
The Health Ministry’s figures are based on the number of dead and wounded Palestinians brought to hospitals. “There are still a number of victims under the rubble and on the streets, and ambulance and civil defense crews cannot reach them,” the ministry said.
According to the Palestinian news agency WAFA, Israeli strikes included attacks on the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Younis and in Gaza City and Beit Lahia in the north. At least four Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza City’s Shujaiya neighborhood, which was hit by massive strikes a day earlier, leaving dozens missing under the rubble.
Al Jazeera reported on Thursday that rescuers continue to search for an estimated 80 people who are missing in Shujaiya.
The Health Ministry said that since Israel restarted its genocidal war on March 18, which it did with full US support, at least 1,522 Palestinians have been killed, and 3,834 have been injured. The renewed bombing campaign has had a devastating toll on children, with more than 500 among those killed.
The ministry also said that its recorded death toll since October 2023 has reached 50,886, and the number of wounded has climbed to 115,875. Gaza’s Government Media Office has said that including Palestinians who are missing and presumed dead under the rubble brings the death toll to about 62,000. Other estimates that account for indirect deaths caused by the US-backed Israel siege put the death toll in the hundreds of thousands.
