Jerusalem, Jan 9 (EFE).- The death toll in Gaza has surpassed 46,000 since the conflict began in October 2023, with at least 70 Palestinians killed in the last 24 hours amid ongoing indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas for a potential ceasefire.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, since the war erupted on October 7, 2023, Israeli strikes have left 46,006 people dead and 109,378 injured. Over 11,000 people are missing, believed to be buried under the rubble of the building razed in Israeli strikes.
At least 30 of the latest deaths occurred in northern Gaza, where an ongoing Israeli offensive has claimed over 4,000 lives, according to Hamas authorities.
So far on Thursday, 14 more deaths have been reported across the enclave, as per local sources cited by Al Jazeera network. Israel continues to block international media from entering Gaza.
In central Gaza, an airstrike on Nuseirat refugee camp killed a father and his three children early Thursday, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
The latest escalation coincides with renewed indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas, aiming for a ceasefire that would secure the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking from Paris on Wednesday, said a truce deal is imminent.
“I believe in area after area, we’re handing off in some cases things we haven’t been able to complete but that create real opportunities to move things forward in a better way. In the Middle East, we’re very close to a ceasefire and hostage agreement,” Blinken said in the French capital.
“I hope that we can get it over the line in the time that we have left, but if we don’t, then the plan that President Biden put forward for a ceasefire-hostage deal will be handed over to the incoming administration.”
Meanwhile, Gaza’s healthcare system is nearing collapse, with Doctors Without Borders (MSF) warning that fuel shortages could shut down key hospitals, including Naser, Al Aqsa, and the European Hospital, where patients depend on electricity for survival.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has stressed the urgency of a ceasefire, warning that Gaza’s humanitarian crisis is deepening.
The majority of Gaza’s population is now living in makeshift shelters in the Mawasi “humanitarian zone” along the southern coast, without electricity or running water.
Winter’s low temperatures have already claimed several lives, with at least eight people, including seven newborns, reported dead from hypothermia in recent weeks. EFE
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