GAZA STRIP: The Health Ministry in Gaza said on Tuesday that at least 37,372 people had been killed in the territory during more than eight months of war between Israel and Palestinian militants.
The toll includes at least 25 deaths in the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said, adding that a total of 85,452 people had been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7.
Residents and medics said Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday killed at least 17 Palestinians in two of the Gaza Strip’s historic refugee camps, and Israeli tanks pushed deeper into the enclave’s southern city of Rafah.
Residents reported heavy bombardments from tanks and planes in several areas of Rafah, where more than a million people had taken refuge before May. Most of the population has fled northward since then as Israeli forces invaded the city.
“Rafah is being bombed without any intervention from the world. The occupation (Israel) is acting freely here,” a Rafah resident and father of six said via a chat app.
Israeli tanks were operating inside Tel Al-Sultan, Al-Izba, and Zurub areas in Rafah’s west, as well as Shaboura at the heart of the city.
They also continued to occupy the eastern neighborhoods and outskirts, the border with Egypt, and the vital Rafah border crossing.
“There are Israeli forces in most areas, there is heavy resistance too and they are making them pay dearly but the occupation is not ethical, and they are destroying the city and the refugee camp,” the resident said.
Palestinian health officials said one man was killed in the morning by Israeli fire on the eastern side of Rafah.
Medics said they believed many others had been killed in the past days and weeks, but rescue teams could not reach them.
The Israeli military said it was continuing “precise, intelligence-based activity” in Rafah, killing many Palestinian gunmen over the past day in close-range combat and seized weapons.
The air force struck dozens of targets across the Gaza Strip in the past day, it added.
In the central Gaza Strip, two separate Israeli air strikes on two houses killed 17 Palestinians in Al-Nuseirat and Al-Bureij.
These two designated refugee camps are home to families and descendants of people who fled to Gaza in the 1948 war around the creation of Israel, medics said.
“Every more hour of delay, Israel kills more people. We want a ceasefire now,” said Khalil, 45, a teacher from Gaza, now displaced with his family in Deir Al-Balah city in the central Gaza Strip.
“Enough of our blood. I say it to Israel, America, and our leaders too. The war must stop,” he said via a chat app.
The Israeli military statement did not comment directly on the 17 deaths but said forces continued to operate against militant factions in central Gaza areas.
