More than 55,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war, Gaza health officials say
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Palestinian death toll from the 20-month Israel-Hamas war has climbed past 55,000, the Gaza Health Ministry said Wednesday.
The ministry doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants, but has said that women and children make up more than half the dead.
It's a grim milestone in the war that began with Hamas' attack into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and shows no sign of ending. Israel says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas, accusing the militants of hiding among civilians, because they operate in populated areas.
The ministry says 55,104 people have been killed since the start of the war and 127,394 wounded. Many more are believed to be buried under the rubble or in areas that are inaccessible to local medics.
Israeli forces have destroyed vast areas of Gaza, displaced about 90% of its population and in recent weeks have transformed more than half of the coastal territory into a military buffer zone that includes the now mostly uninhabited southern city of Rafah.
A 2½-month blockade imposed by Israel when it ended a ceasefire with Hamas raised fears of famine and was slightly eased in May. The launch of a new Israeli- and U.S.-backed aid system has been marred by chaos and violence, and the U.N. says it has struggled to bring in food because of Israeli restrictions, a breakdown of law and order, and widespread looting.
Israel accuses Hamas of siphoning off aid, but the U.N. and aid groups deny there is any systematic diversion of aid to militants.
Hamas has suffered major setbacks militarily, and Israel says it has killed more than 20,000 militants, without providing evidence. The militants still hold 55 hostages — less than half of them believed to be alive — and control areas outside of military zones despite facing rare protests earlier this year.
The war began when Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7 attack and abducted 251 hostages. More than half the captives have been released in ceasefires or other deals. Israeli forces have rescued eight and recovered the remains of dozens more.
Israel's military campaign, one of the deadliest and most destructive since World War II, has transformed large parts of cities into mounds of rubble. Hundreds of thousands of people are living in squalid tent camps and unused schools, and the health system has been gutted, even as it copes with waves of wounded from Israeli strikes.
___
Follow AP's war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Miami Herald
an hour ago
- Miami Herald
Dedicated ENT doctor writes about his journey and life lessons in new book
For years, Robert E. Pickard has worked as a steadfast doctor helping people hear. He has helped so many in other ways, as well. His ear, nose and throat medical practice was a staple doctor's office in South Miami for over 50 years, and he still serves as a hearing consultant. Dr. Pickard helped my family through correct diagnosis and treatment, as well as calming reassurance, for three generations. Now, he has written about his life of service in 'My Lessons Learned, by Robert E. Pickard, MD, Colonel, Artist, My Life and Times.' 'This book tells a story of how I learned my lessons throughout my life. Dating back to when I was a child during World War II and continuing as I grow and go through life's journey,' Pickard said. 'Many lessons I've learned along the way while observing and living through major world events, and personal triumphs and tragedies.' Pickard, 84, lived as a soldier during Vietnam, as a medical ENT physician, and as an artist. His incredibly detailed lithographic art, often of the surgical theater, greeted everyone who stepped through his office doors. He said he continues to create through painting, sketching, etching, acrylic on canvas, sculptures and lithographic prints. 'I have lived my life as a life of service, for example creating the Hearing Research Institute, a 501c3 non-profit organization, which helps pay for hearing aids and listening devices for children and people of all ages,' Pickard said. He also authored the state bill that mandates that all newborn babies have their hearing tested immediately after birth prior to leaving the hospital. This ensures that no child is misdiagnosed and enables early intervention should a hearing issue exist, he said. I started writing about Dr. Pickard's work in this column almost every December when he and his family and friends donated toys and games to hospitalized children during the holidays. They spread cheer at Jackson Memorial Hospital and Miami Children's Hospital, now Nicklaus Children's Hospital. 'I have had the fortune of having a beautiful family and raising four amazing daughters. I have met many friends along the way and wanted to share some of my life stories in my autobiography,' he said. 'My very candid depiction of my life and its lessons will show readers how I developed my wit and wisdom. Some lessons were learned as a child, some decades later as an adult. I navigate my lessons through this story, as I take you on the adventure called 'my life.'' And what a life it is. Pickard's stories of highs and lows, his lifelong relationships and personal accounts of helping others are inspiring. 'My hope is that as you read this book you learn from lessons I've learned, because the biggest lesson of all is that we never really stop learning.' You can read more about his life and 'My Lessons Learned, by Robert E. Pickard, MD, Colonel, Artist, My Life and Times' at The book and audiobook can be purchased on the link. Write to ChristinaMMayo@ with news for this column.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Over 100 reported killed in Gaza in 24 hours as telecoms go down
More than 100 people were reported killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza within 24 hours, as deadly incidents near aid distribution sites and a major communications outage deepened the crisis in the war-shattered Palestinian territory on Thursday. The Health Ministry in Gaza, controlled by Hamas, reported 103 deaths and 427 injuries in the past day alone. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, and the figures could not be independently verified. Since the start of the war on October 7, 2023, which was triggered by a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that killed around 1,200 people and saw more than 250 taken hostage, more than 55,200 people have been killed in Gaza and over 127,800 injured, according to the ministry. Palestinians reported that Israeli forces opened fire near aid distribution positions, while a humanitarian foundation said Hamas launched a deadly attack on its staff. The Palestinian news agency WAFA said at least 13 people were killed and around 200 injured at an aid centre in the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza. The Hamas-run Health Ministry confirmed the incident, but put the toll at 10 dead and at least 120 wounded. Separately, WAFA reported five more deaths in the Sudaniya area north-west of Gaza City, where people were waiting for food assistance. The Israeli military has not commented on the incidents. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), supported by Israel and the United States, began distributing aid last month following a near three-month Israeli blockade. The initiative aims to prevent Hamas from diverting aid, according to Israeli officials. However, the operation has drawn criticism from the UN and humanitarian organizations, who cite safety and access concerns. The GHF said that a Hamas attack on one of its staff buses killed eight Palestinian employees and injured several others on Wednesday evening. The team was en route to a distribution centre west of Khan Younis in southern Gaza. The foundation stated that some employees may have been taken hostage and that it was still gathering information. "These were aid workers. Humanitarians. Fathers, brothers, sons, and friends," GHF said, condemning what it called a "heinous and deliberate attack." The organization urged the international community to hold Hamas accountable, saying its staff had been targeted simply for delivering food to Palestinians. WAFA, citing medical sources, reported that 224 people have been killed and over 1,850 injured around aid distribution points since May 27. 'The points have become traps for mass killings,' the agency said. Communications blackout adds to chaos Also on Thursday, Gaza's last functioning fibre-optic network was damaged in an attack, resulting in a complete outage of internet and landline services, according to the Palestinian Telecommunications Authority. WAFA said the blackout would have severe humanitarian and social consequences and called for immediate restoration. Telecommunications have been repeatedly disrupted during the conflict, hampering relief coordination and civilian communication. Israel has been engaged in a sustained military campaign in Gaza for 20 months, with the stated goal of eliminating Hamas and securing the release of remaining hostages. A new major ground offensive was launched nearly a month ago. The campaign has drawn international criticism, including from Israel's close allies, over the mounting civilian toll and the humanitarian situation on the ground.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Scientists develop breath test to ID people and check health
Breathing into a bag or tube usually means you've been pulled over by police who want to check for drinking and driving can lead to the loss of a driving licence or even imprisonment. But a team of scientists have found every breath you take to be like a fingerprint that discloses who you are with 97% accuracy and can be assessed for "insights" into physical and even mental health. "You would think that breathing has been measured and analyzed in every way," said Noam Sobel, one of a team of researchers based at the Weizmann Institute of Science near Tel Aviv who said they "stumbled upon a completely new way to look at respiration" they describe as "a brain readout." The researchers tracked breathing in 100 "healthy young adults" over 24 hours using a "lightweight wearable device" they made and found that the "high-level accuracy" of the tests "remained consistent across multiple retests conducted over a two-year period." Most breathing tests last less than half an hour, meaning such "brief snapshots" cannot assess "subtle patterns," according to the team, which had its findings published in the Cell Press journal Current Biology. "I thought it would be really hard to identify someone because everyone is doing different things, like running, studying, or resting," said researcher Timna Soroka. But according to the team, the breathing test rivals "the precision of some voice recognition technologies." "It turns out their breathing patterns were remarkably distinct," Soroka said, following the longer-than-usual test, which not only could identify people but provide signals related to health. The Israel-based team said that the tests showed breathing to be "correlated with a person's body mass index, sleep-wake cycle, levels of depression and anxiety, and even behavioural traits." "For example, participants who scored relatively higher on anxiety questionnaires had shorter inhales and more variability in the pauses between breaths during sleep," the researchers reported. The team's laboratory's prior investigations of olfaction in animals got them thinking that since mammals' brains process odour information during inhalation, there could be some value in testing whether there people have a unique breathing pattern in the same way each brain is unique. The findings follow the development over the past decade of gadgets that can identify people by how they walk, with so-called gait recognition technology used by police in China in street cameras since at least 2018. It all means that with every breath you take and every move you make, they might some day be watching - and identifying - you.
