Death toll in Gaza war passes 50,000

PALESTINE

DEIR AL-BALAH (AP):

More than 50,000 Palestinians have now been killed in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, the territory’s health ministry said on Sunday, as new Israeli airstrikes killed at least 26 Palestinians overnight, including a Hamas political leader and several women and children.

Israel’s military also sent ground troops into part of the southern city of Rafah as thousands of Palestinians fled after new evacuation orders.

Israel ended the latest ceasefire last week with a surprise wave of strikes that killed hundreds, and it has launched ground incursions in northern Gaza. The military claimed to have “eliminated” dozens of militants in recent days.

Israel’s Cabinet late Saturday approved a proposal to set up a new directorate for advancing the “voluntary departure” of Palestinians, in line with US President Donald Trump’s proposal to depopulate Gaza and rebuild it for others. Palestinians say they do not want to leave their homeland, and rights groups say the plan could amount to expulsion, in violation of international law.

The military ordered people to leave Rafah’s already-heavily destroyed Tel al-Sultan neighbourhood on foot along a single route to Muwasi, a sprawling area of squalid tent camps. The war has forced most of Gaza’s population of over two million to flee within the territory, often multiple times.

“It’s displacement under fire,” said Mustafa Gaber, a journalist who left with his family. He said tank and drone fire echoed nearby.

“The shells are falling among us and the bullets are (flying) above us,” said Amal Nassar, also displaced from Rafah. “The elderly have been thrown into the streets. An old woman was telling her son, ‘Go and leave me to die.’ Where will we go?”

“Enough is enough. We are exhausted,” said a fleeing Ayda Abu Shaer, as black smoke rose in the distance.

The Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service said it lost contact with a team of medics responding to the strikes. Spokesperson Nebal Farsakh said some were wounded.

There was no immediate comment from Israel’s military, which says it only targets militants. Israel blames civilian deaths on Hamas because it operates in densely populated areas.

STRIKE KILLS WOMEN AND CHILDREN

Hamas said Salah Bardawil, a well-known member of its political bureau, was killed in a strike in Muwasi that also killed his wife. Israel’s military confirmed that.

Hospitals in southern Gaza said they received a further 24 bodies from strikes overnight, including several women and children.

Gaza’s health ministry said 50,021 Palestinians have been killed in the war and over 113,000 have been wounded. That includes 673 people killed since Israel’s bombardment on Tuesday shattered the ceasefire.

Dr Munir al-Boursh, the ministry’s general director, said the dead include 15,613 children, with 872 of them under one year old.

The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, but says women and children make up over half the dead. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 fighters, without providing evidence.

CEASEFIRE IN TATTERS

The ceasefire that took hold in January paused more than a year of fighting ignited by Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack into Israel, in which militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 hostage. Most captives have been released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.

In the latest ceasefire’s first phase, 25 Israeli hostages and the bodies of eight others were released in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. Israeli forces pulled back, allowing hundreds of thousands of people to return to what remains of their homes. There was a surge in humanitarian aid until Israel cut off all supplies to Gaza earlier this month to pressure Hamas to change the ceasefire agreement.

The sides were supposed to begin negotiations in early February on the ceasefire’s next phase, in which Hamas was to release the remaining 59 hostages – 35 of them believed to be dead – in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire, and an Israeli withdrawal. Those talks never began.

Hundreds of Israelis gathered outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office in Jerusalem on Sunday to protest his handling of the war and his attempt to dismiss the head of the Shin Bet internal security service.

“I’m worried for the future of this country. And I think it has to stop. We have to change direction,” said one protester, Avital Halperin.