The Gaza Ministry of Health announced on Sunday that seven Palestinians were killed and six others wounded over the past 24 hours, despite the ongoing ceasefire with Israel.
According to the ministry, the death toll since the ceasefire took effect on 11 October has risen to 236, with 600 wounded. It also reported that the bodies of 502 people have been recovered from under the rubble of destroyed buildings.
The ministry added that the total number of people killed since the war began on 7 October 2023 has reached 68,865, while the number of wounded stands at 170,670 – the majority of them women, children, and the elderly. It said Israeli forces continue to carry out airstrikes and targeted operations across the enclave.
The Palestinian NGO Network in Gaza said Israel is still blocking around 16,000 patients from traveling for medical treatment outside the Strip and is preventing the entry of heavy equipment required to remove debris. The Gaza government stated that only 3,203 trucks entered the territory between the start of the ceasefire and the end of October – including 2,564 carrying aid and 639 commercial shipments – far below the 13,200 trucks agreed upon under the ceasefire arrangement.
Hamas, meanwhile, denied a statement by the US Central Command accusing the group of looting an aid truck in Gaza, describing it as a “baseless fabrication intended to justify reducing humanitarian aid and conceal the international community’s failure to end the blockade and starvation.”
The group said that Gaza’s security forces had lost more than 1,000 personnel while protecting aid convoys, and that no international organization or truck driver had lodged a complaint about looting. Hamas added that “the chaos ended immediately after Israeli forces withdrew, proving they were responsible for orchestrating it.”
It also called on Washington to expose what it described as Israeli violations of the ceasefire rather than “adopting occupation narratives,” asserting that US drones had “failed to record the daily Israeli crimes that have killed 254 Palestinians since the ceasefire began, including 105 children.”
In Istanbul, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met with members of the Hamas political bureau, including senior Gaza leader Khalil al-Hayya, to discuss the ceasefire and humanitarian needs, according to diplomatic sources.
In Gaza, health official Munir Al-Bursh accused Israeli forces of leaving behind booby-trapped toys designed to explode when children handle them. The Health Ministry reiterated that the overall death toll from the war has reached 68,865.
In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the recently leaked video showing Israeli soldiers assaulting a Palestinian detainee at the Sde Teiman facility as “one of the most damaging media incidents Israel has faced.” Defence Minister Yisrael Katz last week dismissed Military Advocate General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi amid allegations that she leaked the footage.
Netanyahu also said Israel “will not allow the Lebanese front to become a threat” and vowed to act against the Houthis, whom he described as “a major danger.” He added that Hamas continues to operate in parts of Khan Younis and Rafah under Israeli control, where the army is conducting operations to eliminate its fighters.
Israel’s public broadcaster reported that the government has approved allowing Hamas members and representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to enter the “yellow zone” in Gaza to search for the bodies of missing Israeli captives.
