Palestinian death toll in Gaza rises to 61,776

The Palestinian death toll in the Gaza Strip has risen to 61,776, with 154,906 injured since the conflict between Hamas and Israel erupted in October 2023, Gaza's health authorities said in a statement on Thursday.

Over the past 24 hours, Israeli attacks on the enclave killed 54 people and wounded 831 others. Twenty-two people were killed when attempting to get humanitarian aid, according to the statement.

Palestinian sources said on Thursday that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) bombed a house in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City that morning, killing eight civilians and injuring several others.

Israel has not yet responded to this report.

The multilateral system is "under attack" amid global turmoil, President of the 80th UN General Assembly Annalena Baerbock warned in her remarks on Wednesday.

In her briefing on the priorities for the resumed 80th Session of the General Assembly, the UNGA president noted that the current multilateral system does not collapse all in a sudden, but "crumbles piece by piece" in divisions, compromises, and lack of political commitment.

The president called all the UN member states to defend the UN Charter and international law and promote cross-regional cooperation.

She also urged to push forward the work of the UNGA on certain critical issues with a strong majority, rather than an absolute consensus among all member states. Such act is not a failure of multilateralism, but "an affirmation of it," she said.

The foundational principles of the institution should not be eroded by appeasement, she said, calling the member states to show courage, leadership, and responsibility at the UN's "critical make-or-break moment."

"The UN needs you. Your support, your leadership, your principle, stand, your cross-regional cooperation, if we are to preserve and modernize this institution, if we are to make it, rather than break it," she said.