AP
Health officials in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip say more than 20,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war between Israel and Hamas.
The figure, amounting to nearly 1 per cent of the territory’s pre-war population, is a new reflection of the staggering cost of the war, which in just over 10 weeks has displaced more than 80 per cent of Gaza’s people and devastated wide swaths of the tiny coastal enclave.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said on Friday that it has documented 20,057 deaths in the fighting.
It does not differentiate between combatant and civilian deaths.
It has previously said that roughly two-thirds of the dead were women or minors. It said 53,320 Palestinians have been wounded.
Israel declared war after Hamas militants stormed across its border on October 7 and killed some 1,200 people and kidnapped 240 others.
Israel has carried out thousands of air strikes as well as a fierce ground offensive in what it says is a campaign to destroy Hamas’ military capabilities.
It blames Hamas for the high civilian death toll, citing the group’s use of crowded residential areas for military purposes.
Israeli officials say the army has killed some 7,000 Hamas militants, but it has not presented any evidence to back up the claim.
Pictures of levelled dwellings have been circulating on social media as the conflict continues to escalate.
This video has been making the rounds:
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