Daijiworld Media Network - Gaza
Gaza, Jan 31: Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least 26 people on Saturday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said, marking the highest single-day death toll in more than two months.
The latest deaths were reported despite a ceasefire that came into effect in mid-October, with officials stating that the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza since then has crossed 500. Gaza’s Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Basal said around a quarter of the recovered bodies were children, while nearly a third were women. An elderly man and four female police officers were also among those killed, he added.
Basal said several people were trapped under rubble after strikes hit shelters, tents for displaced families, residential apartments and a police station. Dr Mohammad Abu Salmiya, director of Al-Shifa Hospital, said the toll could rise further as critically injured patients continued to arrive at hospitals.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the strikes targeted Hamas and Islamic Jihad positions across Gaza, claiming the action was in response to a ceasefire violation on Friday in which eight militants were seen emerging from an underground site in eastern Rafah. The IDF said three were killed and one captured.
The Israeli military has continued to carry out strikes in Gaza since the ceasefire began, accusing Hamas of repeated violations.
Meanwhile, the deaths came a day after local media reports said the Israeli military had acknowledged in a briefing to journalists that approximately 70,000 Palestinians were killed during the Gaza war and that figures issued by Gaza’s health ministry were “largely accurate.” Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth quoted officials as saying the estimate did not include the missing, while public broadcaster Kan 11 attributed the information to the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) and reported efforts were underway to assess how many of those killed were civilians or militants.
The IDF said the published details did not reflect official data, while an IDF spokesperson declined to confirm whether the military maintains official figures on Palestinian deaths or if they would be made public.