The Palestinian death toll from the ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip is approaching 40,000, the health authorities in the besieged enclave said on Wednesday.
During the past 24 hours, the Israeli military killed 36 people and wounded 54 others, bringing the total death to 39,965 and injuries to 92,294 since the Palestinian-Israeli conflict broke out in October last year, according to a statement of the health authorities.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) stated on Tuesday that the Israeli army has killed about 100 Palestinian militants and destroyed a large number of weapons and infrastructure used by hundreds of Palestinian armed groups during operations in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah over the past several days.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah), said on Tuesday that the organization used heavy mortar shells to bomb the Israeli army command center and vehicles in the central Gaza Strip.
On the same day, the Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), said that its militants attacked the Israeli city of Tel Aviv and surrounding areas with two M90 missiles. Israeli media reported explosions were heard in the vicinity of Tel Aviv on Tuesday afternoon, but no air defense alarm was sounded.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Tuesday said that the IDF intelligence forces are closely monitoring the movements of Lebanese Hezbollah and Iranian forces, and the IDF must be prepared for "all possibilities," so as to launch attacks anywhere, and the Israeli people need to remain vigilant at all times and comply with official instructions.
On Tuesday evening, IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari posted on his social media platform, asking residents of some neighborhoods in southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis to begin evacuating as the Israeli military plans to launch military operations in these areas in response to the continuous rocket attacks by Palestinian armed groups.
Amidst the increasing tensions, the Pentagon announced on Tuesday that the U.S. Secretary of State Blinken had approved the sale of more than 20 billion U.S. dollars worth of military equipment to Israel.
The U.S. military had previously sent F-22 fighter jets to the Middle East. The U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also ordered the deployment of the USS Georgia , a nuclear-powered submarine armed with cruise missiles, to the Middle East, and ordered the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group to accelerate to the area.
Palestinian death toll in Gaza nears 40,000 as conflict continues
