Gaza’s death toll from Israeli attacks soars to 9,488

By Mohamed Majed

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – The Palestinian death toll from the ongoing Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip has climbed to 9,488, the Health Ministry in the blockaded enclave said on Saturday.

“The victims include 3,900 children and 2,509 women, while 24,000 other people were injured,” the ministry spokesman, Ashraf al-Qudra, told a news conference in the Gaza City.

“70% of the victims of aggression are children, women and elderly people,” the spokesman added.

He also said that “the ministry have received reports about 2,200 people missing under the rubble, including 1,250 children, since the start of the aggression on Gaza.”

“150 health personnel were killed and 27 ambulances were destroyed and put out of service as a result of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip,” Qudra added.

He also accused Israel of "deliberately targeting more than 105 health institutions, which left 16 hospitals and 32 primary care centers out of service due to Israeli targeting and fuel exhaustion."

“Gaza's hospitals have become completely overcrowded with wounded people and dangerous cases, and we lose many wounded every day because there are no therapeutic interventions available for them in Gaza's hospitals,” he added.

"The occupation deliberately prevents the evacuation of the wounded from hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip and Gaza City to southern Gaza, all the way to the Rafah land crossing," Qudra also said.

The Health Ministry in Gaza announced that 13 Palestinians were killed and 26 others injured on Friday in an Israeli bombing that targeted ambulances in front of the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

The Israeli army has widened its air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip, which has been under relentless airstrikes since the surprise offensive by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi