The death toll from Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since Oct7 has crossed 35,000, according to the health ministry, as Israel’s forces pushed further into north and south corners of the besieged enclave for fresh assault. In a statement, the Gaza health ministry put the death toll at 35,091, with 57 killed in the past 24 hours. Israeli forces pushed deep into the ruins of Gaza’s northern edge on Monday to recapture an area where they claimed to have dismantled Hamas months ago, while in the south, tanks and troops pushed across a highway into Rafah. Israeli operations in Rafah, which borders Egypt, have closed a main crossing point for aid, which humanitarian groups say is worsening an already dire situation. Palestinians continue to leave Jabalia and other areas as US envoy to Israel terms Rafah incursion scale ‘acceptable’.

Gaza’s health authority on Monday appealed for international pressure to reopen access via the southern border to allow in aid and medical supplies. “The wounded and sick suffer a slow death because there is no treatment and supplies and they cannot travel,” it said. In northern Gaza’s Jabalia camp, residents fled along rubble-strewn streets carrying bags of belongings. Tank shells landed in the centre of the camp and airstrikes destroyed clusters of houses, they said. Health officials said they had recovered 20 bodies of Palestinians killed in overnight airstrikes. “We don’t know where to go. We have been displaced from one place to the next… We are running in the streets. I saw it with my own eyes. I saw the tank and the bulldozer. It is on that street,” said one woman, who did not give her name.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan