Gaza death toll surpasses 70,000, says health ministry

The Palestinian death toll has surpassed 70,000 since the Israel-Gaza war began, Gaza’s health ministry said on Saturday, while a hospital reported Israeli fire killed two Palestinian children in the territory’s south.The toll has continued to rise after the latest ceasefire took effect on 10 October. Israel still carries out strikes in response to what it has called violations of the truce, and bodies from earlier in the war are being recovered from the rubble.The health ministry said the Palestinian toll is now 70,100. The department operates under the Hamas-run government. It is staffed by medical professionals and maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by the international community.The war began with the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people died and 250 were taken hostage. Almost all the hostages or their remains have been returned in ceasefires or other deals.Staff at Nasser hospital, which received the bodies of the children in southern Gaza, said the brothers, aged 8 and 11, died when an Israeli drone struck close to a school sheltering displaced people in the town of Beni Suheila.Israel’s military said it killed two people who crossed into an Israeli-controlled area, “conducted suspicious activities” and approached troops. The statement did not mention children. The military said it also killed another person in a separate but similar incident in the south.At least 352 Palestinians have been killed across the territory since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.Israel says its strikes are aimed at militants violating the truce. Both Israel and Hamas have accused each other of violating the deal. Hamas again urged mediators on Saturday to pressure Israel to stop what it called ceasefire violations in Gaza.A US blueprint outlining the future of Gaza, which has been devastated by more than two years of war, is still in the early stages. The plan to secure and govern the territory authorises an international stabilisation force to provide security, approves a transitional authority to be overseen by the US president, Donald Trump, and envisions a possible path to an independent Palestinian state.Israeli forces have pushed forward on a number of other fronts in the region in recent weeks.Syrian officials said that Israeli forces raided a Syrian village on Friday and opened fire when they were confronted by residents, killing at least 13 people. Israel said it conducted the operation to apprehend suspects of a militant group planning attacks in Israel, and that the militants opened fire at troops, wounding six.Israel has also escalated strikes in Lebanon, saying it is targeting Hezbollah sites and asserting the militant group is attempting to rearm.Hezbollah called on Pope Leo XIV to “reject injustice and aggression,” in reference to the near-daily Israeli strikes, despite a ceasefire that ended the 14-month war between the two sides a year ago. The pope is visiting the region on his first foreign trip.In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Israeli soldiers were accused by Palestinians of executing two men on Thursday after footage aired by two Arab television stations showed troops shooting them after they appeared to surrender. The Israeli military said it was investigating.Israeli settler violence has continued to rise in the West Bank. On Saturday, the Palestinian Red Crescent said 10 Palestinians were injured by beatings and live ammunition during settler attacks in Khallet al-Louza village close to Bethlehem.