Israeli attacks have killed at least 198 Palestinians and wounded 786 in the Gaza Strip over 72 hours, according to death toll updates released by Gaza’s Health Ministry, as Israel continues its US-backed genocidal war despite growing global outrage.
In that same time period, another five bodies of Palestinians killed in previous Israeli attacks were also recovered. “A number of victims are still under the rubble and in the streets, where ambulance and civil defense crews are unable to reach them at this time,” the ministry said in its latest update on Sunday.
Throughout the weekend, the Israeli military continued its destruction campaign in Gaza City, where it aims to forcibly displace the entire civilian population and reduce every single building to the ground. A report published by The New York Times on Friday detailed how the IDF has been razing block after block as it pushes further into the city.
On Saturday, Doctors Without Borders said it was forced to suspend operations in Gaza City because of the danger to its staff due to the Israeli offensive. The medical charity had provided medical care for Palestinians facing malnutrition due to the famine in the city caused by the Israeli blockade.
On Sunday, Hamas’s military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, said that it lost contact with two Israeli captives and called on the Israeli military to halt airstrikes and withdraw from the area so they could be recovered. “The lives of the two prisoners are in real danger, and (Israeli) forces must immediately withdraw to the south of Street 8 and halt aerial operations for 24 hours starting from 18:00 today to allow attempts to rescue the prisoners,” the al-Qassam Brigades said.
According to the Palestinian news agency WAFA, Israeli strikes throughout the day on Sunday killed at least 41 Palestinians, a count based on the number of bodies brought to hospitals.
While Israel’s strikes have been focused on Gaza City, the IDF has also continued to bomb central and southern Gaza despite telling Palestinians in the north to flee to those areas. An Israeli bombing of the Nuseirat refugee camp early Sunday morning killed at least eight people, and women and children were among the dead.
According to a report from Al Jazeera that cited Gaza’s Government Media Office, since the IDF began ordering forced evacuations from parts of Gaza City on August 11, 1,903 people have been killed in 133 attacks on central and southern Gaza, representing about 46% of total deaths across the Strip during that period.
Israeli forces have also continued to kill Palestinians attempting to reach food aid. According to the Health Ministry’s updates, the IDF killed 28 aid seekers in Gaza over the past three days.
The Health Ministry said on Sunday that its violent death toll since October 7, 2023, has reached 66,005, and the number of wounded has climbed to 168,162. Studies have found that the ministry’s numbers are likely a significant undercount.
