Death Toll from Israel's Gaza Strikes Surpasses 46,000

At least 70 Palestinians were killed, and 104 others injured in the past 24 hours alone as relentless bombardments continue across the region.

Raed Haniya, a medical worker at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, described the dire situation for medical teams in Gaza.

“During heavy bombardments that result in a flood of casualties, we’re forced to prioritize patients based on the severity of their conditions,” he told Sanad, Al Jazeera’s fact-checking agency.

Haniya added that doctors often take on dual roles as caregivers and emotional supporters.

“We find ourselves consoling patients who have lost their entire families, helping them cope with their devastating losses while managing their physical wounds,” he said.

The psychological toll on medical staff is immense.
“Seeing mutilated and burned children in the hospitals is unbearable. You can’t help but imagine that it could be your own child in their place,” Haniya added.

In the central city of Deir el-Balah, dozens gathered outside Al-Aqsa Hospital for funeral prayers for those killed in strikes the previous day. Inside the hospital morgue, grief-stricken relatives bid emotional farewells to the dead.

Munawar al-Bik, a displaced woman in Khan Younis, spoke of the unlivable conditions in Gaza.
“What we are living is not a life. Nobody could bear the situation we’re experiencing for a single day,” she said. Standing beside a destroyed building and surrounded by makeshift tents filled with displaced families, she pleaded for an end to the war.
“The situation is unbearable. We have no energy left. We want it to end today.”

An airstrike on a residential home in Deir el-Balah claimed four lives and injured several others.
“The place was full of dust, and I could no longer see anything clearly,” resident Khalil al-Dibji said. “I started looking for my children. My eldest daughter was fine, and I was able to save the two younger boys. My other daughter was rescued from under the rubble.”

Al-Dibji initially believed his wife had been killed under the debris but later discovered she had survived.

“My question is, why do the Israelis kill civilians? We are civilians, and there is no resistance here,” he added.

Palestinian doctors in Gaza also shared the challenges of working in the warzone. Dr. Marwan al-Hams, director of the destroyed Abu Youssef al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah, described the heartbreak of treating people he knows.

“The hardest moments are when you receive your relatives, colleagues, and close friends among the dead,” he said.

Al-Hams recounted a deadly attack on refugee camps in Rafah that killed three members of his family and severely injured others, including children who suffered amputations. The 50-year-old also revealed that his home had been destroyed.
“My granddaughters come to me asking for warmth and blankets, but I cannot provide them with that comfort,” he said.

Since October 7, 2023, the Israeli genocidal war has killed 46,006 Palestinians and injured 109,378, the Gaza Health Ministry reported in a statement on Telegram.