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Israel-Hamas war: Death toll hits 9,770, says Gaza health ministry

The ministry said at least 4,800 children were among those killed since Israel began striking the region

Published: Sun 5 Nov 2023, 4:15 PM

Updated: Sun 5 Nov 2023, 8:47 PM

  • By
  • AFP

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Photo: AFP

Photo: AFP

The health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip said Sunday at least 9,770 people had been killed in the Palestinian territory since war with Israel erupted last month.

Israel pressed its war to crush Hamas on Sunday nearly a month after the deadliest attack in the country's history as the Palestinian militant group said strikes on a central Gaza refugee camp killed dozens.

Ground battles raged in the north of the densely populated Gaza Strip, despite calls for a ceasefire from Arab countries and from desperate civilians after 30 days of a war that has killed thousands, mostly civilians.

Israeli troops were seen engaged in house-to-house battles as tanks and armoured bulldozers churned through the sand in footage released by the army on the campaign to tighten the encirclement of Gaza City, still home to hundreds of thousands of civilians.

In the latest strikes in Gaza, the Hamas-run health ministry said, Israeli bombing of Al-Maghazi refugee camp late Saturday killed 45 people, with an eyewitness reporting children dead and homes smashed.

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"An Israeli air strike targeted my neighbours' house in Al-Maghazi camp, my house next door partially collapsed," said Mohammed Alaloul, 37, a journalist working for the Turkish Anadolu Agency.

Alaloul told AFP his 13-year-old son, Ahmed, and his four-year-old son, Qais, were killed in the bombing, along with his brother. His wife, mother and two other children were injured.

A military spokesperson said they were looking into whether their forces had been operating in the area at the time of the bombing.

The ministry said at least 4,800 children were among those killed since Israel began striking the Gaza Strip in retaliation to the October 7 attacks carried out by Hamas militants in southern Israel that Israeli officials say killed over 1,400, most of them civilians.

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