The Israeli military continued its relentless bombing of Gaza on Monday, killing at least 45 more Palestinians across the Strip, medical sources told Al Jazeera.
Israeli strikes on Monday included heavy attacks on Gaza City, including a strike on a school-turned-shelter for displaced Palestinians, which killed at least five.
Two separate airstrikes on homes in Gaza City killed at least five Palestinians, and shelling by Israeli warships killed at least two Palestinians west of Gaza City.
In southern Gaza, at least four Palestinians were killed by an Israeli strike on a car, and at least one Palestinian was killed in Khan Younis.
The heavy attacks come amid reports of progress in the hostage and ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas. “The more we’re hearing about a potential ceasefire, the higher the pace of the attacks and a surge in the airstrikes in Gaza City,” said Hani Mahmoud, an Al Jazeera reporter based in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza.
The Israeli military said on Monday that five of its soldiers were killed in north Gaza that morning. The IDF has been conducting an ethnic cleansing campaign in the North Gaza Governorate and has been destroying every building in sight, but they’re still facing resistance. On Saturday, four Israeli soldiers were killed in Beit Hanoun.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said in its daily update on Monday, which it releases about mid-day Gaza time, that at least 19 Palestinians were killed and 71 were wounded in the previous 24-hour period.
The Health Ministry only counts dead and wounded Palestinians brought to hospitals and morgues, and a new study published in The Lancet found its numbers were a significant undercount, likely by 41%. “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 wrote on Telegram.
The Health Ministry said the latest violence has brought its death toll since October 2023 to 46,584 and the number of wounded to 109,731. The Lancet study said that as of October 2024, the true death toll was likely over 70,000, which only accounts for violent deaths, not indirect deaths caused by the US-backed Israeli siege.
