Israel’s Killing Continues in Gaza as Palestinian Death Toll Exceeds 40,000
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Israeli regime’s relentless war on Gaza has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, at least 16,456 of them children and over 11,000 women.
Gaza’s Health Ministry on Thursday announced the grim milestone, a figure that is likely an undercount as most of the missing 10,000 Palestinians are believed to be buried under mountains of rubble.
Shortly after the ministry’s announcement of the death toll, a new round of ceasefire talks aimed at stopping the war began in the Qatari capital Doha on Thursday afternoon. Qatar, Egypt and the United States are mediating the high-stakes talks, being attended by top Israeli officials, AL Jazeera reported.
The United Nations says Israel’s bombardment has damaged or destroyed two-thirds of buildings across the Strip.
Israel’s unsparing campaign in Gaza, the subject of allegations of genocide before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), has displaced more than 90 percent of the Strip’s population and created a humanitarian disaster, worsened by Israel’s widespread denial of essential humanitarian assistance into Gaza.
Amid deteriorating conditions, famine and deadly diseases such as polio have spread through Gaza.
The death toll offered by the Health Ministry is conservative, with a study published in the medical journal The Lancet in July stating that the figure could reach as high as 186,000 people, a number that would represent about 8 percent of Gaza’s entire population.
Israeli forces have targeted schools, humanitarian workers, medical facilities, and UN shelters throughout the war, including some hosting many displaced people. Israel states that such facilities are used by Hamas for military purposes, but those claims often lack evidence.
In the first 10 days of August, Israel struck at least five schools across Gaza, killing more than 150 people.
Reports of abuses by Israeli forces such as systematic torture, extrajudicial killings, and the destruction of civilian infrastructure, agricultural land, and religious and cultural sites, have also been prevalent throughout the war.
The war has also been the deadliest in modern history for journalists, with the Committee to Protect Journalists stating that 113 media workers have been killed since the war began, 108 of them Palestinian.
The US has played a central role in the war, with enormous weapons transfers underwriting Israel’s campaign despite reports of rampant violations of international law. The Biden administration announced last week it had cleared an additional $20bn in weapons sales to Israel.
