By SAMY MAGDY and MELANIE LIDMAN
CAIRO (AP) — The number of Palestinians killed in the yearlong war in Gaza has passed 43,000, more than half of them women and children, the Palestinian Health Ministry said Monday.
The tally includes 96 dead who arrived at hospitals in Gaza over the past two days, the ministry said.
Israeli troops have launched an ongoing operation in northern Gaza that included a raid on a hospital over the weekend. The military said it detained 100 suspected Hamas fighters in a raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya on Friday. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.
The World Health Organization accused Israel of detaining 44 male hospital staff. Palestinian medical officials said the hospital, which was treating some 200 patients, was heavily damaged in the raid.
Israel has raided several hospitals in Gaza over the course of the yearlong war, saying Hamas and other fighters use them for military purposes. Palestinian medical officials deny those allegations and accuse the military of recklessly endangering civilians.
An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity in keeping with regulations, said there was heavy fighting around Kamal Adwan Hospital, though not inside it, and that weapons were found inside the facility.
The official said medical staff were detained and searched because some of the fighters had disguised themselves as medics.
According to the official, the military had helped international organizations relocate 88 patients and medical staff to other hospitals in the weeks leading up to the raid, and that during the raid itself, troops had brought 30,000 liters of fuel and medical supplies from international organizations to help keep the facility running.
The Israeli military has called on Palestinians to evacuate northern Gaza, where it has been waging a large offensive for more than three weeks. The official said the operation in the northern Gaza city of Jabaliya would last “several more weeks.”
The U.N. said earlier this month at least 400,000 people are still in northern Gaza and hunger is rampant as the amount of humanitarian aid reaching the north has plummeted over the past month.
The Gaza Health Ministry said at least 43,020 people have been killed and 101,110 others wounded since the war started on Oct. 7, 2023. It did not differentiate between fighters and civilians.
The Israel-Hamas war began after Hamas-led terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023, blew holes in Israel’s security fence and stormed in, killing some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducting 250 others.
Lidman reported from Jerusalem.
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