Key Takeaways
- At least 23 people were killed in Gaza in the last 24 hours due to Israeli shelling and airstrikes.
- Intense fighting continues in Rafah, where nearly one million people have fled recent evacuation orders.
- The Gaza health ministry reports the overall death toll from the war has now surpassed 37,550.
Israeli military actions in Gaza have resulted in at least 23 fatalities over a 24-hour period, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry. The latest casualties come as heavy combat persists, particularly in the southern city of Rafah.
Rafah and Gaza City Under Fire
Witnesses in Rafah reported intense artillery shelling and gunfire in the city’s western sectors, with military helicopters active over central areas. Simultaneously, airstrikes and artillery fire were reported in Gaza City, located in the north of the Strip.
The health ministry stated the 23 deaths included at least five women and children, with 91 others wounded. It described the casualties as resulting from “the massacres of the occupation (Israel) during the past 24 hours”.
Israeli Military Operations
The Israeli military confirmed its forces were engaged in “close-quarters combat” with militants in the Rafah area, where troops had “located large amounts of weapons”. In a separate operation in central Gaza, the army said it destroyed a Hamas rocket launcher and a weapons storage facility.
The fighting in Rafah follows an Israeli evacuation order that has displaced nearly one million people in recent weeks.
War Background and Toll
The conflict originated with Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel, which killed 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli figures. Militants also took 251 hostages during the assault; 116 are believed to remain in Gaza, though the Israeli army states 41 of them are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has now killed at least 37,551 people, also mostly civilians, as per the Gaza health ministry’s figures.
