The Palestinian death toll from the ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip had surpassed 40,000 as of Thursday, at a time when the Gaza ceasefire talks were set to resume in Qatar.
During the past 24 hours, the Israeli military killed 40 people and wounded 107 others, bringing the total death toll to 40,005 and injuries to 92,401 since the Palestinian-Israeli conflict broke out in early October 2023, Gaza-based health authorities said Thursday in a statement.
There are still many victims under the rubble and on the roads, with ambulance and civil defense crews unable to reach them, it added.
It took only five and a half months for the Palestinian death toll in the Gaza Strip to rise from 30,000 to 40,000.
According to an official, talks aimed at achieving a ceasefire in Gaza and an agreement for the release of hostages have begun in Doha, the capital of Qatar.
It is expected that David Barnea, chief of Israel's Mossad spy agency, will join representatives from the United States and Egypt, along with the Qatari Prime Minister, in the talks.
Palestinian death toll in Gaza exceeds 40,000 as peace talks renew
Russia on Thursday announced that its forces controlled one more settlement, while the Ukrainian side reported conducting high-precision strikes on Russian command posts.
According to a statement released by the Russian Ministry of Defense on Thursday, Russian troops seized control of one more settlement in the Donetsk region. The ministry also claimed that its forces had successfully repelled Ukrainian attacks and launched offensives in the directions of Kharkiv, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson.
The statement also noted that Russian air defense systems had intercepted 67 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles. Besides, strikes were carried out by the Russian side on Ukrainian drone storage facilities and ammunition depots.
On the same day, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reported that its forces had engaged in 109 battles on the frontline over the past 24 hours. Ukrainian forces claimed to have struck Russian personnel and equipment concentrations, command posts, and electronic warfare base stations.
The Ukrainian side also said that its air force conducted high-precision strikes on a Russian command post in the Kherson region and another command post in the Kursk region.
Russia claims control of one more settlement, Ukraine says Russian command posts raided
