Following an uptick in Israeli bombardments on the sixth day following Hamas’s surprise offensive, the Palestinian Ministry of Health announced on Thursday that the dead toll in the Gaza Strip had reached 1,200.
A representative for the Gazan health ministry stated that “the number of martyrs has risen to about 1,200, and the number of wounded has increased to about 5,600.” The UN reported that more than 338,000 people in the Gaza Strip have been forced to leave their homes as intensive Israeli bombardments continue to batter the Palestinian territory.
The UN agency for humanitarian affairs, OCHA, said in a statement on Thursday that “mass displacement throughout the Gaza Strip continues.” By late Wednesday, the number of internally displaced people in Gaza had risen by 75,000 from the estimate given 24 hours earlier, reaching 338,934, it added.
Israel made the announcement as it was hammering Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, which is home to 2.3 million people, in retaliation for the terrorists’ unanticipated attack on Saturday. President Joe Biden of the United States issued a warning to Iran against intervening with Israel’s conflict with Hamas as Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip forced hundreds of thousands of civilians from their homes. Israeli jets have been bombing targets in Gaza for days as retaliation for a weekend offensive by Hamas militants who broke through the border fence enclosing the enclave and rampaged through towns and villages, killing 1,200 people, injuring over 2,700, and taking dozens of hostages, according to the Israeli military.
The UN Security Council will convene on Friday to discuss the increasing conflict between Israel and Hamas, according to Brazil’s foreign affairs ministry. The rotating UN Security Council presidency is currently held by Brazil. Mauro Vieira, Brazil’s foreign minister, cancelled a trip to Asia to fly to New York instead “to participate in a meeting of the United Nations Security Council, called by Brazil… to address the situation in the Gaza Strip,” the ministry said in a statement. On Sunday, the day after Hamas unexpectedly attacked Israel, Brazil convened an emergency meeting of the Security Council.—INP
