War on Gaza top updates: Palestinian toll crosses 8,000, includes 3,195 children
Despite calls for a ceasefire, the Israeli military expanded its ground invasion and asked hospitals in northern Gaza to evacuate.
A look at the top developments from Israel’s war on Gaza:
- The Palestinian toll passed 8,000 as Israeli troops expanded their ground invasion in northern Gaza amid fierce air and artillery strikes in the region, reported Al Jazeera. The toll includes 3,195 children killed in three weeks. The figure of those under 18 years has surpassed the annual number of children killed across the world’s conflict zones since 2019, Save the Children said on Sunday. “With a further 1,000 children reported missing in Gaza assumed buried under the rubble, the death toll is likely much higher,” the organisation said.
- The Israeli Army said that it attacked 600 Hamas targets in Gaza including the area around Al-Azhar University from where it said an anti-tank missile was about to be launched, reported Al Jazeera. The Israeli military also killed four people during a raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin on Monday, the Palestinian health ministry said, reported Reuters. Israel launched air strikes against Lebanon to target militant group Hezbollah and targets in Syria. The expansion of ground assault in Gaza comes as international human rights groups and a few countries have called for an urgent ceasefire in the region.
- On Sunday night, Israeli airstrikes in northern Gaza hit all the residential buildings around Al-Quds Hospital where at least 14,000 people have sought refuge, reported Al Jazeera. Many patients are undergoing medical treatments, some with critical injuries from previous Israeli strikes. Israel has asked the authorities to evacuate people from the hospital but most of them have already lost their homes in earlier attacks. This comes after several patients were killed in an airstrike at al-Ahli Arab Hospital on October 18. Israel has accused Hamas of operating its command centres and keeping its military infrastructure in Gaza hospitals, reported Reuters. However, Hamas has denied the allegations.
- The World Health Organization on Monday said that hospitals in the north of Gaza continue to receive evacuation orders but it is impossible to do so without endangering patients’ lives. “Heavy bombardment continues in Gaza,” it said. “Many health facilities have been damaged since 7 October, including several in the last two days. Hospitals are overflowing with severely injured patients with no end in sight to the influx of casualties.” The international health organisation said that medical supplies are dangerously low as fuel outages are already disrupting health facilities and ambulances.
- As Israel continues its restriction on food, water and electricity in Gaza, thousands of Palestinians in Khan Younis on Sunday broke into United Nations warehouses to grab flour and other essential items, reported Reuters. The incident showed that the region had reached “breaking point”, the United Nations Palestinian Refugee Agency said. “This is a worrying sign that civil order is starting to break down after three weeks of war and a tight siege on Gaza,” the agency added.
- On Sunday, 33 aid trucks, the largest number of aid to cross in a day since the conflict began, entered Gaza from Egypt, reported the Associated Press. However, humanitarian workers told the news agency that the assistance still falls desperately short of the requirement. A truck carrying 45,000 bottles of water from Save the Children also arrived in Gaza on Sunday.