Israeli bombardment has killed at least 111 Palestinians, including 91 aid seekers, and injured 820 others across Gaza in the past 24 hours.
Updating the overall toll posted on Thursday, Gaza’s health ministry said Israel’s war had killed 60,249 Palestinians and injured 147,089 since October 7, 2023.
Over the past few hours, Israel has killed more Palestinians, who are also dying of starvation or being shot at while collecting food aid.
Media reports, citing medical sources, said at least 41 Palestinians have been killed since dawn on Thursday, including 19 aid seekers.
About 70 people were killed as crowds of starving people had gathered at the Zikim crossing, waiting for trucks loaded with humanitarian aid to enter the besieged strip when they were shot.
Al-Saraya field hospital said it had received more than 100 dead and wounded after the shooting, while the death toll was expected to rise.
About 20 people seeking aid were also killed by Israeli soldiers while outside a US-run aid distribution points in the central Gaza Strip and in Rafah in south Gaza.
Sources at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis said a young man from Rafah has died from starvation.
The report also said seven people, including two children, died from starvation and malnutrition in the last 24 hours.
At least 155 Palestinians have died due to starvation as Israel continues to block aid to Gaza.
Since May, Israeli forces have killed more than 1,330 Palestinian aid seekers, and over 8,818 others have been wounded in Israeli attacks, mainly at the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution sites run by the United States.
France, a close ally of Israel, on Thursday said the US and Israel-backed aid distribution system in Gaza had generated a “bloodbath” and had to cease activity.
“I want to call for the cessation of the activities of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the militarized distribution of humanitarian aid that has generated a bloodbath in distribution lines in Gaza, which is a scandal, which is shameful, and has to stop,” French Foreign and European Affairs Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said.
A number of studies conducted in recent months indicate the Palestinian death toll from the war in Gaza could be substantially higher than official figures reported by the health ministry
A study by researchers from a leading health research university in the UK earlier this year found that the number of people killed in Gaza was significantly higher than the figure reported by authorities in the besieged strip.
According to findings announced by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and published in The Lancet journal, there were an estimated 64,260 “traumatic injury deaths” in Gaza between October 7, 2023, and June 30, 2024.
In general, the ministry reaches its figures by counting the corpses of those killed.
The discrepancy with the ministry’s figures reflects the destruction of Gaza’s healthcare infrastructure and therefore its inability to accurately count the dead amid Israel’s ongoing bombardment of the besieged region, the LSHTM said.
Thousands of people are still missing under the rubble of buildings, and it is difficult to reach and recover their bodies.
Israeli forces have destroyed much of Gaza’s vital infrastructure–from its health services to water and sanitation systems.
The International Criminal Court (ICC).has already issued arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former war minister, Yoav Gallant, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity on November 21, 2024.
Netanyahu is accused of using starvation as a method of warfare, intentionally attacking civilians and committing other inhumane acts during his genocidal military campaign in the besieged strip.