Palestinian death toll in Gaza surpasses 44,000: health authorities

GAZA - The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has surpassed 44,000, the Gaza-based health authorities said on Thursday.

During the past 24 hours, the Israeli military killed 71 people and wounded 176 others, bringing the total death toll to 44,056 and injuries to 104,268 since the Palestinian-Israeli conflict broke out in early October 2023, it said in a statement.

Many victims remain trapped under rubble, with ambulance and civil defense teams unable to reach them.

Also on Thursday, Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, said on the social media platform X that 80 percent of the Gaza Strip is now high-risk areas where people are forced to flee in search for the basics, especially the nonexistent safety.

"In northern Gaza, people remain under a tight siege. They run for their lives in vicious circles and have been deprived of humanitarian aid for more than 40 days now," Lazzarini said.

"Across Gaza, the delivery of the little aid allowed in has become increasingly difficult due to insecure routes," he added, noting that civil order has been destroyed.

Israel has been launching a large-scale offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip to retaliate against a Hamas rampage through the southern Israeli border on Oct 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and about 250 taken hostage.