Death toll in Gaza Strip has reached 34,305 Palestinians – ministry
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At least 34,305 Palestinians have been killed and 77,293 wounded in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since 7 October, the Hamas-led Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Thursday, Reuters reports.
That number includes 43 deaths in the last 24 hours. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Israel has continued to bombard Gaza today. Among those killed in strikes overnight and into Thursday in Rafah were two children, identified in hospital records as Sham Najjar, six, and Jamal Nabahan, eight.
The White House wants “answers” over discovery of mass graves
The White House says it wants “answers” from Israeli authorities after the discovery of mass graves at two Gaza hospitals destroyed in Israeli sieges.
Gaza’s civil defense agency said health workers uncovered nearly 340 bodies of people allegedly killed and buried by Israeli forces at the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, reports Agence France-Presse. About 30 bodies were reported found buried in two graves in the Al-Shifa hospital courtyard in Gaza City.
Israeli army spokesperson Major Nadav Shoshani claimed the grave at Nasser “was dug – by Gazans – a few months ago”.
The Israeli army did acknowledge that “corpses buried by Palestinians” had been examined by soldiers searching for hostages, but did not directly address allegations that Israeli troops were behind the killings.
Palestinian civil defence teams began exhuming bodies outside the Nasser hospital complex in Khan Younis last week after Israeli troops withdrew. A total of 310 bodies have been found in the past week, Palestinian officials have said.
Palestinian rescue teams and several UN observation missions also reported the discovery this month of multiple mass grave sites at al-Shifa hospital compound in Gaza City after an Israeli withdrawal.
Officials in Gaza said the bodies at Nasser were people who had died during the siege. Israel’s military on Tuesday rejected allegations of mass burials at the hospital, saying it had exhumed corpses in the hope of finding hostages taken by Hamas in October.
