Number of Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since Oct 7 surpasses 10,000

NT Bureau, Agencies

Gaza Strip/Tel Aviv: Israel’s military has claimed it has encircled Gaza City and divided the besieged coastal strip into two, as Gaza came under its third total communications outage since the start of the war.

Moving under the cover of intensive aerial bombardments on Sunday night from air, land and sea – accompanied by a communications blackout – Israeli troops moved to surround the city as Hamas militants were reported to have pulled back to prepared positions deeper in the dense urban sprawl.

Sunday’s airstrikes were the most ferocious on the territory since the war broke out. It was not immediately clear what had been hit in the centre of Gaza City, as huge plumes of fire and smoke rose into the night air.

“Today there is north Gaza and south Gaza,” R Adm Daniel Hagari said, calling it a “significant stage” in Israel’s war against the Hamas militant group ruling the territory.

Israeli media reported that troops were expected to enter Gaza City in force within the next 48 hours.

In a statement on Monday, Gaza’s Ministry of Health said the death toll has risen to at least 10,022 Palestinians, including 4,104 children, with many victims still trapped beneath the rubble and an Israeli siege drying up access to vital goods like fuel, food and electricity.

“The number [death toll] is expected to go up as at least 2,000 people remain under the rubble. The problem is, with lack of heavy equipment and machinery, the rescue teams on the ground are unable to remove and pull out these bodies from under the rubble,” Al Jazeera correspondent Hani Mahmoud reported from Khan Younis in southern Gaza. 

At least one child is being killed in Gaza every 10 minutes as a result of the conflict between Israel and Palestine, according to CNN calculations based on the latest numbers released by the Gazan health ministry.

'Are you enjoying this … horror movie'

The “shocking milestone” was a result of Israel’s indiscriminate bombardment of civilian homes, hospitals, refugee camps, and schools, said Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), a United Kingdom-based organisation, “How many more deaths will it take for this assault to end – 50,000, 100,000?,” said Fikr Shalltoot, the group’s Gaza director.

“As we witness our homes, hospitals and schools turned to rubble, we are crying for a shred of humanity from world leaders.”

As Israel steps up ground operations inside Gaza and continues its campaign of air strikes, Palestinians fear there is no end in sight. “Are you enjoying this … horror movie?”

Zak Hania, a resident of the al-Shati refugee camp, asked world leaders in an interview with Al Jazeera.