Fifty-one Palestinians have been killed in the last 24 hours in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian territory's Health Ministry announced today.
As reported, a total of 52.243 Palestinians were killed in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, which began on October 7, 2023, after Hamas attacked Israel.
The total death toll includes nearly 700 bodies for which the documentation process has recently been completed, the ministry said. The daily death toll includes bodies pulled from the rubble after earlier attacks.
Israel broke a two-month truce with Hamas in a surprise bombing on March 18 and has been carrying out daily attacks on the territory since then. Israeli ground forces have expanded the buffer zone and surrounded the southern city of Rafah, now controlling about 50 percent of Gaza.
Israel has also imposed a blockade on the territory, home to about two million Palestinians, which has stopped even food and medicine from entering for almost 60 days. Aid agencies report that supplies are running low and thousands of children are malnourished.
Israeli authorities say the renewed offensive and tightened blockade are aimed at pressuring Hamas to release hostages taken during the October 7, 2023, attack that launched its offensive on Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue the war until Hamas is destroyed or disarmed and all hostages are returned.
Hamas said it would release the remaining 59 hostages, 24 of whom are believed to be alive, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, a permanent ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, as agreed in a now-void agreement reached in January.
Hamas militants killed about 1.200 people in an attack on Israel on October 7 and took 251 hostages. Most of the hostages have since been released in ceasefire agreements or other accords.
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