30,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza since war began, Hamas-run health ministry says
The Hamas-run health ministry says more than 30,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza since the war began.
The Gaza health ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count but says women and children make up around two-thirds of those killed.
It also says the actual figure is higher because there are bodies buried under the rubble and in areas that medics cannot reach.
Israeli military officials have admitted the figure for the amount of deaths is probably right, while the US State Department has also said the number could be even higher because many bodies are likely to be under rubble and unaccounted for.
The Israel Defence Force’s official estimate for the number of Hamas militants killed in the assault on Gaza is 12,000.
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The Hamas-run health ministry has given the precise total figures of 30,035 Palestinians dead and 70,457 injured in the attacks which started in October last year.
Israel’s assault on the densely populated strip is approaching the end of its fifth month amid fears Israeli forces will launch a ground offensive against the southern city of Rafah.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he is determined to destroy Hamas after the militant group killed 1,200 people and seized about 250 hostages on 7 October 2023.
Talks have been held to agree a pause in military operations in Gaza and swap Israeli hostages held in the territory for Palestinian prisoners – and it is hoped that another deal may be close.
A Palestinian woman holds her child as she stands at a house damaged in Israeli strikes in Rafah. Pic: Reuters
Meanwhile, health officials in the Palestinian territory said on Thursday that at least 70 people had been killed and more than 280 had been wounded in a strike on a crowd waiting for aid in Gaza City.
Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, said it had received at least 10 bodies and 160 wounded people.
Fares Afana, the head of the ambulance service at Kamal Adwan, said medics arriving at the scene found “dozens or hundreds” lying on the ground. He said there were not enough ambulances to collect all the dead and wounded and that some were brought to hospitals on donkey carts.
Dr Mohammad Salha, acting director of the Al-Awda Hospital, said it received 90 wounded and three dead, who were transferred to Kamal Adwan.
“We expect a rise in the number killed,” he said. “There are many wounded still at the reception and the emergency room.”
He said Al-Awda is largely out of commission, with no electricity and the operating room running on battery power with only hours left. Gaza’s health sector is under severe strain nearly five months into the Israel-Hamas war.
The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports.
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‘Children suffering from acute malnutrition’
Meanwhile, a senior UN official has warned at least a quarter of Gaza’s population is one step away from famine and many children are severely malnourished.
Humanitarian coordinator Ramesh Ramasingham told the UN Security Council last night “there is every possibility for further deterioration” in the enclave, where nearly everyone needs food.
One in six children under two in northern Gaza – which was first targeted by Israel – are suffering from “acute malnutrition and wasting”, he said.
Despite the huge number of Palestinian casualties and the humanitarian crisis, the leader of Hamas has reportedly expressed confidence the militant group is winning its war against Israel.
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Media seeking ‘free access’ to Gaza
‘War crimes committed by both sides’
Yahya Sinwar, who has remained in hiding during the conflict, recently told senior Hamas officials in Qatar his group “has the Israelis right where we want them”, according to the Wall Street Journal.
It comes as the UN’s human rights chief Volker Turk has said war crimes have been committed by both sides.
Speaking at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Mr Turk said all suspected war crimes should be investigated and those responsible held accountable.
“Clear violations of international human rights and humanitarian laws, including war crimes and possibly other crimes under international law, have been committed by all parties,” Mr Turk said.
“It is time – well past time – for peace, investigation and accountability.”
New pictures show the moment of impact as an Israeli missile hit a Beirut apartment block and exploded.
The block was one of five buildings destroyed by airstrikes on Friday alone.
Israel launched airstrikes in the southern suburbs of Beirut in a fourth consecutive day of intense attacks.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press photographer captured a sequence of images showing an Israeli bomb approaching and hitting a multi-storey apartment building in Beirut’s Tayouneh area.
Richard Weir, a senior crisis, conflict and arms researcher at Human Rights Watch, reviewed the close-up photos to determine what type of weapon was used.
“The bomb and components visible in the photographs, including the strake, wire harness cover, and tail fin section, are consistent with a Mk-84 series 2,000-pound class general purpose bomb equipped with Boeing’s joint directed attack munition tail kit,” he told AP.
Pics: AP
Smoke covers a building that collapses following the strike. Pic: AP
Deadly strikes as bombardment stepped up
Israel stepped up its bombardment this week – an escalation that has coincided with signs of movement in US-led diplomacy towards a ceasefire.
The Israeli military said its fighter jets attacked munitions warehouses, a headquarters and other Hezbollah infrastructure. It issued a warning on social media identifying buildings ahead of the strikes.
Meanwhile, an Israeli airstrike killed five members of the same family in a home in Ain Qana in the southern province of Nabatiyeh, Lebanon’s state media said.
The report said a mother, father and their three children were killed but didn’t provide their ages.
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Three other Israeli strikes killed six people and wounded 32 in different parts of Tyre province on Friday, also in south Lebanon, the report said.
Video footage also showed a building being struck and turning into a cloud of rubble and debris that billowed into Horsh Beirut, the city’s main park.
Residents check the site of the airstrike in Tayouneh, Beirut. Pic: AP
More than 3,200 people have been killed in Lebanon during 13 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah – most of them since mid-September.
About 27% of those killed were women and children, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
Israel dramatically escalated its bombardment of Lebanon from September, vowing to cripple Hezbollah and end its barrages in Israel.
Friday’s strikes come as Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister has asked Iran to help secure a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hezbollah.
The prime minister appeared to urge Ali Larijani, a top adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, to convince the militant group to agree to a deal that could require it to pull back from the Israel-Lebanon border.
Iran is a main backer of Hezbollah and for decades has been funding and arming the Lebanese militant group.
On Thursday, Eli Cohen, Israel’s energy minister and a member of its security cabinet, said that prospects for a ceasefire with Lebanon were the most promising since the conflict began.
The Washington Post reported Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was rushing to advance a Lebanon ceasefire to deliver an early foreign policy win to his ally, US President-elect Donald Trump.
“Super high-IQ revolutionaries” who are willing to work 80+ hours a week are being urged to join Elon Musk’s new cost-cutting department in Donald Trump’s incoming US government.
The X and Tesla owner will co-lead the Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
And in a post on X, the official DOGE account put out a call to arms for people to sign up and help “dismantle government bureaucracy”.
The post said: “We are very grateful to the thousands of Americans who have expressed interest in helping us at DOGE.
“We don’t need more part-time idea generators.
“We need super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting.
“If that’s you, DM this account with your CV. Elon & Vivek will review the top 1% of applicants.”
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Elon Musk speaking at an event held at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Pic: AP Photo/Alex Brandon
In a reply to an interested party, Mr Musk suggested the lucky applicants would be working for free.
“Indeed, this will be tedious work, make lost of enemies & compensation is zero,” the world’s richest man wrote.
“What a great deal!”
When announcing the new department, President-elect Donald Trump said Mr Musk and Mr Ramaswamy “will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies”.
Mr Musk has previously made clear his desire to see cuts to “government waste” and in a post on his X platform suggested he could axe as many as three-quarters of the more than 400 federal departments in the US, writing: “99 is enough.”
At least 10 people have been killed after a fire broke out at a retirement home in northern Spain in the early hours of this morning, officials have said.
A further two people were seriously injured in the blaze at the residence in the town of Villafranca de Ebro in Zaragoza, according to the Spanish news website Diario Sur.
Two people remain in a critical condition following the blaze. Pic: AP
They remain in a critical condition, while several others received treatment for smoke inhalation.
Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the residence – the Jardines de Villafranca – at 5am (4am UK time) on Friday.
Several residents were treated for smoke inhalation. Pic: AP
Those who were killed in the fire died from smoke inhalation, Spanish newspaper Heraldo reported.
The residence is home to 82 elderly residents.
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The blaze started in one of the rooms, Fernando Beltran, the national government’s top official in the region, told reporters.
All of the victims were elderly residents, he added.
Relatives wait for news outside the care home. Pic: AP
Fire crews, paramedics and police officers remain on site, said a spokesperson for the regional government of Aragon who confirmed the fatalities.
It took firefighters several hours to extinguish the blaze, they said.
The cause of the fire is unknown and is being investigated.
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