The death toll in the war between Israel and Hamas has surpassed 45,000 people, Palestinian health officials announced Monday.
The death toll, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, reached 45,028 people during the 14-month war, Gaza health officials said.
Gaza’s health ministry does not distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths, but says more than half of the victims were women and children.
The Israeli military claims to have killed more than 17,000 militants, without providing evidence to support its claims.
The current conflict began on October 7, 2023, after Hamas launched an attack on Israel, killing around 1,200 people – mostly civilians – and taking 250 hostages.
Matias Delacroix/AP
The Health Ministry said 106,962 Gazans have been injured since the start of the current war.
Recently, an Israeli strike killed at least 10 people, including a family of four, overnight in Gaza City, according to Palestinian doctors.
On Monday, residents of Gaza’s Nuseirat urban refugee camp mourned the death of a Al Jazeera journalist killed the day before.
Israel also struck missile warehouses around Tartus in Syria overnight, according to a UK-based war monitor, who called the strikes “the most violent strikes” in the region since 2012.
The Israeli army refused to comment on the strikes.
The observatory said “violent explosions” were heard in the coastal town of Tartous after strikes and the launch of surface-to-surface missiles.
Family of four killed in Gaza City
A family of four was among those killed in an overnight airstrike, Palestinian doctors reported Monday.
The airstrike hit a house in the Shijaiyah neighborhood east of Gaza City, according to the Health Ministry’s ambulance and emergency services.
Rescuers extracted 10 bodies from the rubble, including two parents and their two children, the service confirmed.
Abdel Karim Hana/AP
Israeli airstrikes in Syria
Israeli troops entered Syria last week and took control of a border buffer zone.
Israel struck targets in Syria after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
Syria’s new administration, led by former insurgents, has complained to the UN Security Council about Israeli bombings and incursions into Syrian territory.
The administration has said it does not want a military confrontation with Israel.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Monday condemning Israel’s plan to expand settlements in the occupied Golan Heights.
The ministry described the move as “a new step in Israel’s goal of expanding its borders through occupation.”
“The international community must respond decisively to Israel and ensure that the illegal activities of (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu’s government come to an end,” the statement said.
Qatar also condemned the decision, calling it “a new chapter in a series of Israeli aggressions on Syrian territories and a blatant violation of international law.”
On Sunday, the Israeli government approved Netanyahu’s plan, which aims to encourage population growth in the region.
Israel captured the Golan Heights during the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it, a move recognized only by the United States.
The international community continues to consider the area occupied.
According to Israeli data, the Golan Heights is home to approximately 50,000 people, roughly divided between Israeli Jews and Druze Arabs, many of whom still identify as Syrian.
Abdel Karim Hana/AP
US Embassy asks Americans to leave Syria
The US Embassy in Damascus has urged US citizens to leave Syria, saying the security situation there remains volatile and unpredictable with armed conflict and “terrorism throughout the country”.
The warning was issued via a statement on X.
The embassy, closed since 2012, advised those who could not leave to prepare “contingency plans for emergency situations”.
The statement said the U.S. government cannot provide routine or emergency consular services in Syria.
Citizens needing urgent assistance to leave have been advised to contact the U.S. embassy of the neighboring country they plan to enter.
While the Islamic State group was defeated in March 2019, sleeper cells continued to carry out deadly attacks in various parts of Syria.
Rebels from the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham militant group that toppled Assad and now controls much of Syria are led by Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, a former al-Qaeda militant.
After 13 years of civil war, al-Jolani toppled the Assad regime in resounding fashion just over a week ago. After cutting ties with al-Qaeda several years ago, al-Jolani promised representative government and religious tolerance in Syria.
This article includes reporting from the Associated Press
