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Gaza death toll crosses 70,000 as Israel continues strikes; at least 350 killed amid ceasefire
The toll has continued to rise even after the ceasefire that took effect on October 10.
The Palestinian death toll in Gaza has climbed past 70,000 since the war began in 2023, Gaza’s health ministry said on Saturday. In the most recent attack, a hospital in southern Gaza reported that two Palestinian children were killed by Israeli fire.
The toll has continued to rise even after the ceasefire that took effect on October 10. According to the health ministry, which operates under the Hamas-run administration, the number now stands at 70,100 people.
The war began with the Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 250 were taken hostage.
Almost all hostages, or their remains, have since been returned through ceasefires or negotiated exchanges.
As per reports, staff at Gaza's Nasser hospital, which received the bodies of the two boys, said the brothers, aged 8 and 11, were killed when an Israeli drone struck near a school sheltering displaced families in the town of Beni Suheila in the latest assault.
Israel’s military said it had killed two people who crossed into an Israeli-controlled area, “conducted suspicious activities” and approached troops.
The statement did not refer to children. The army added that it killed another person in a separate, similar incident in the south.
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350 people killed in Gaza since start of Trump-brokered truce
As the death toll in Gaza continues to rise, at least 352 Palestinians have been killed across the Palestinian territory since the ceasefire came into effect, according to the health ministry.
Israel continues to deny it has violated the truce and says its operations target militants accused of violating the ceasefire. On Saturday, Hamas again urged mediators to press Israel to halt what it called ceasefire violations in Gaza.
The Israel Defense Forces said they had targeted two suspects who crossed what it described as the “yellow line.”
The line marks the position to which Israeli forces agreed to pull back under the U.S.-brokered ceasefire more than seven weeks ago.
