At least 70,125 Palestinians had been killed and 171,015 others injured since the latest round of the Israel-Hamas conflict broke out on October 7, 2023, Gaza-based health authorities said in a statement on Thursday.
Although a ceasefire between the two sides took effect on October 10 in Gaza Strip, the death toll has kept rising as Israel continues carrying out airstrikes to retaliate for what it described as Hamas' breach of the truce.
Hospitals in the enclave received eight more bodies in the past 24 hours, including six new deaths and two bodies recovered from the rubble, the authorities added.
Periodic Israeli attacks have killed 366 Palestinians and injured 938 others in the besieged enclave since Oct 11, according to the statement. Another 619 bodies have been found beneath the debris since then.
At least five Palestinians were killed on Wednesday in an Israeli airstrike on a tent sheltering displaced people in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, according to Gaza's Civil Defense.
Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for the Civil Defense, said the airstrike targeted the tent in the Al-Mawasi area in west of Khan Younis, killing all five people inside. The bodies were taken to nearby Kuwaiti Field Hospital.
The Israeli military has not commented on the attack.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Israeli military said five soldiers were wounded during a clash with militants who emerged from an underground tunnel in eastern Rafah.
A preliminary investigation found that the Israeli troops shot dead two militants who approached them, the Israeli military said. Shortly afterward, a third man, who was not immediately identified, placed an explosive device on an armored vehicle and fled.
Israel's public broadcaster KAN reported that groups of Palestinian militants remain holed up in Rafah's tunnels as Israeli forces continue operations to apprehend them.
Palestinian death toll in Gaza rises to 70,125: health authorities
