Gaza death toll passes 31,300 as Israel maintains offensive

At least 31,341 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since last October, the Health Ministry in the enclave said on Thursday.

A statement by the ministry said 73,134 others have also been injured in the onslaught.

“At least 69 people were killed and 110 others injured in Israeli attacks in the last 24 hours,” the statement said, adding: “Many people are still trapped under the rubble and on roads as rescuers are unable to reach them."

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, which Tel Aviv says killed nearly 1,200 people and took 250 as hostages.

The war has pushed 85% of Gaza's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while most of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in an interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.