Israeli airstrikes have so far killed 10,022 Palestinians in the ongoing war in Gaza, reports have indicated.
Gaza’s Ministry of Health yesterday said among the casualties were 4,104 children and 2,641 women; while 2,200 others, including 2,150 children, were still trapped beneath the rubble.
The ministry, in a statement, said the siege by Israel had denied Palestinians access to necessities like fuel, food and electricity.
“The number 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,” the ministry said.
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The spokesperson of the ministry, Ashraf al-Qudra, said Israel had conducted 18 attacks in the past hours, killing 252 people.
He put the number of those wounded since the October 7 start of the war at 25,408, including at least 6,360 children and 4,891 women.
He said about 4,000 Palestinians had been detained in Israeli prisons since the October 7th attack.
The ministry had, on Sunday, said a child was killed and two others injured every 10 minutes in Gaza.
The Israeli army has said at least 1,430 Israelis, including 341 soldiers and 58 police officers, have been killed in Israel with 25 military officers killed since the ground invasion began; while at least 5,600 have been injured with 242 taken captive or missing.
Eighty nine staff of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) were also killed in Gaza, most of them with their family members, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told a news briefing at the UN headquarters in New York yesterday.
Guterres also said Gaza was “becoming a graveyard for children.”
He said hundreds of girls and boys were being killed and injured every day.
“More journalists have reportedly been killed over a four-week period than in any conflict in at least three decades.
“More United Nations aid workers have been killed than in any comparable period in the history of our organisation.
“I joined the UN family in mourning 89 of our UNRWA colleagues who have been killed in Gaza, many of them together with members of their families.
“They include teachers, school principals, doctors, engineers, guards, support staff and a young woman named Mai. Mai did not let her muscular dystrophy or wheelchair confine her dreams. She was a top student, became a software developer and devoted her skills to working on information technology for UNRWA”, Guterres stated.
He noted that “the nightmare in Gaza is more than a humanitarian crisis; it is a crisis of humanity.”
Guterres said Israel’s aerial bombardments and ground operations in Gaza “are hitting civilians, hospitals, refugee camps, mosques, churches and UN facilities, including shelters.”
“No one is safe,” said the UN chief.
According to the UN, about 150 health workers have been killed in Gaza – 16 while on duty – and 18 emergency service workers for Gaza’s civil defence; while more than 100 health facilities have been damaged.
Meanwhile, the Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), a United Kingdom-based organization, said the “shocking milestone” was a result of Israel’s indiscriminate bombardment of civilian homes, hospitals, refugee camps, and schools.
“How many more deaths will it take for this assault to be brought to an end – 50,000, 100, 000? As we witness our homes, hospitals and schools turned to rubble, we are crying out for a shred of humanity from world leaders,” said Fikr Shalltoot, the group’s Gaza director.
There had been calls for a ceasefire. In October, the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favour of a resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian truce. But Israel and the United States had rejected the calls.
In a joint statement, signatories including the UN human rights commissioner, Volker Turk; Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization and the UN aid chief, Martin Griffiths, yesterday said: “It’s been 30 days. Enough is enough.
“This must stop now. Civilians and the infrastructure they rely on – including hospitals, shelters and schools – must be protected. More aid – food, water, medicine and of course fuel – must enter Gaza safely, swiftly and at the scale needed, and must reach people in need, especially women and children, wherever they are.”
South Africa has joined Turkey, Jordan, Bolivia, Honduras, Colombia, Chile and Bahrain in recalling their diplomats from Israel in protesting against the genocide in Gaza.
A South African Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavhen told a press briefing that all diplomatic staff in Tel Aviv would be asked back to Pretoria for consultations.
“We’re extremely concerned at the continued killing of children and innocent civilians in the Palestinian territories and we believe the nature of response by Israel has become one of collective punishment,” South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor told a press conference.
