The Israeli military has killed 266 Palestinians and wounded 635 since the US-backed “ceasefire” deal went into effect on October 10, Gaza’s Health Ministry said on Sunday.
The Health Ministry said that over the previous 72-hour period, at least two Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces. The Palestinian news agency WAFA reported on Sunday that at least one Palestinian was killed by an Israeli airstrike targeting a group of civilians to the east of Gaza City.
Dozens of Palestinians have been killed while allegedly crossing or approaching the so-called “yellow line,” the boundary that Israeli troops withdrew to under the ceasefire deal. The IDF has maintained a policy of shooting or bombing anyone who approaches the line, which is not clearly marked for the Palestinians on the ground. Many Palestinians want to return to their homes or the rubble of their homes on the Israeli-occupied side of Gaza.
The IDF also killed more than 100 Palestinians, including 46 children, in a single night of bombing at the end of October after alleging its troops were attacked by Hamas, an incident which resulted in the death of one Israeli soldier. According to Israeli media reports, the IDF soldier was killed by a group of Palestinian militants isolated in Rafah when the tunnel they were hiding in collapsed as a result of IDF operations in the area.
Hamas denied any role in the attack, and Israeli media reports said the IDF didn’t know if Hamas’s leadership was involved, but it still launched a massive bombardment across Gaza in response, a massacre that was supported by the Trump administration.
Israel has also violated the ceasefire by not fulfilling the stipulation in the deal for it to allow an “unrestricted” flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, as it just recently allowed aid deliveries to enter a border crossing into northern Gaza. Israel was also supposed to open the Rafah border crossing connecting Gaza and Egypt, but it remains closed.
Gaza’s Health Ministry also said on Sunday that since the truce deal went into effect, the bodies of 548 deceased Palestinians have been recovered from the rubble, and Israel has handed over the remains of 330 Palestinians in exchange for the bodies of Israeli captives released by Hamas. Around 10,000 Palestinians are still missing in Gaza and presumed dead under the rubble.
Since October 7, 2023, the Health Ministry’s death toll has reached 69,483, and the number of wounded has climbed to 170,706. Studies have found that the ministry’s numbers are likely a significant undercount, and could be by as much as 40%, meaning the real violent death toll could be close to 100,000.
