Over 45,000 Palestinians dead as ceasefire negotiations progress in Gaza: Health officials

Over 45,000 Palestinians have died in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, while ceasefire negotiations show signs of progress

The conflict between Israel and Hamas terrorists in Gaza has claimed the lives of over 45,000 Palestinians, as ceasefire talks that have frequently stopped seem to be progressing, according to health officials in the beleaguered region on Monday.

Mourners pray in front of the body of Al Jazeera journalist Ahmad Baker Al-Louh (R) and members of the Civil Defence, who were killed in an Israeli strike the day before, during their funeral in Nuseirat (AFP)

Qatar, Egypt and the United States have renewed efforts to broker a ceasefire deal in recent days, and Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Monday he believed negotiators are closer to a deal than at any time since the only previous truce, a week-long pause in November 2023 that saw 105 hostages released, as per ABC news.

“We all estimate that an opportunity is being created following Hamas’s need to become more flexible, and I really hope we can advance to a practical stage in this process,” Katz said ahead of a closed-door session of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, a key Hamas ally, agreed to a ceasefire late last month.

Palestinian health officials updated the Gaza death toll to 45,028. They said 106,962 others have been wounded since the war began, and warned that the true toll is higher because thousands of bodies are buried under rubble or in areas that medics cannot access.

Although the ministry's figure does not differentiate between fighters and civilians, it has stated that women and children account for over half of the deaths. Without any proof, the Israeli military claims to have killed over 17,000 terrorists.

With a death toll of around 2% of Gaza's prewar population of over 2.3 million, the conflict is by far the worst between Israel and Hamas.

Another airstrike strikes a shelter, killing a family

More than 50 dead were brought to hospitals across the bombed-out territory over the past 24 hours, Gaza’s Health Ministry said.

Ten persons, including a family of four, were among the most recent victims of an Israeli attack that occurred overnight in the eastern Shijaiyah neighbourhood of Gaza City, according to Palestinian medical personnel.

Israel blames the frequency of civilian casualties on Hamas because the group operates within residential areas in the densely populated Gaza Strip. Israel has not taken sufficient precautions to avoid civilian fatalities.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas-led militants invaded southern Israel, murdering some 1,200 people—mostly civilians—and kidnapping another 250. This marked the start of the conflict. Israel retaliated by entering the Palestinian territory on foot and launching a fierce bombardment. At least one-third of the approximately 100 hostages who are still in Gaza are thought to be dead. During a truce last year, the majority of the others were freed.

A separate strike on a school on Sunday in the southern city of Khan Younis killed at least 13 people, including six children and two women, according to Nasser Hospital, where the bodies were taken. The hospital initially reported the strike had killed 16 but later said three bodies had been from a separate strike.

Louise Wateridge, a spokeswoman for the United Nations relief agency for Palestinians, said she met with children injured in Sunday’s strike. They included a 17-year-old girl with a severe leg injury and shrapnel wounds.

According to Wateridge, their mother was slain, but she, her twin sister, and three other sisters escaped. "One sister described how their mother's bones were crushed under the rubble," according to Wateridge. They couldn't do anything to save her.

In Khan Younis, the Israeli military claimed to have hit Hamas fighters working within a command centre buried in a structure that had formerly been a school. It offered no proof.

A journalist from Palestine is buried

In central Gaza's Nuseirat urban refugee camp, mourners gathered for the funeral of a Palestinian journalist working for the Qatari-based Al Jazeera TV network who was killed Sunday in a strike that hit Gaza's civil defense agency. They carried his body through the streets, along with his bulletproof vest.

Ahmad Baker Al-Louh, 39, was killed while documenting rescue efforts for a family injured in a previous blast, according to Al Jazeera.

Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital reports that three civil defence employees, including the agency's local chief, were also murdered in the strike. The Hamas-run government oversees the civil defence, which is Gaza's primary rescue organisation.

Over half of the 104 journalists and media professionals who have been killed in 2024 have died in Gaza, according to a report released last week by the International Federation of Journalists.

The strike, according to the Israeli military, targeted terrorists from Islamic Jihad and Hamas in a command centre housed within the "Civil Defence" organization's headquarters. The journalist's colleagues in Gaza refuted the accusation that he was a member of Islamic Jihad.

Claims that militants operated from the facility were denied by Gaza's civil defence.

“We were stunned by the Israeli occupation statement,” Mahmoud al-Lawh, the journalist’s cousin, told The Associated Press. “These claims are lies and misleading to cover up this crime.”