Terrorist Israel continues to strike Gaza, martyrs’ toll at 39,175
GAZA, Palestine (AFP) - Israeli strikes hit Gaza on Thursday, killing and injuring people according to Palestinian medical sources, as the military said it had recovered the bodies of five Israelis taken to Gaza by Hamas militants after they were killed on October 7.
The Health Ministry in Gaza said at least 39,175 people have been martyred in more than nine months of war between Israel and Palestinian militants. The toll includes 30 deaths in 24 hours, according to ministry figures, which also list 90,403 people as having been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7.
A group supporting Israeli hostages still held in the Palestinian territory welcomed the rescue but alleged "sabotage" of efforts to free others. The accusation from the Hostages and Missing Families Forum came with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a visit to Washington. Palestinian medical services on Thursday said their teams had transported four dead and 12 wounded after a strike on a house in the Gaza City area in the north of the territory.
'Crisis of trust'
An AFP correspondent reported air strikes and machine gun fire from tanks in Gaza City. To the south, witnesses said there was shelling in the Khan Yunis city and Rafah areas, as well as air strikes in Al-Qarara, near Khan Yunis. Israel's military said the five bodies recovered from Gaza, including those of two soldiers and two reservists, had been returned to Israel following a rescue operation on Wednesday in Khan Yunis.
After the military warned it would "forcefully operate" in the area, the Gaza health ministry on Monday said an Israeli operation had killed 70 people and wounded more than 200. The five Israelis recovered had previously been announced as having died, and the military as well as the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said militants had killed them on October 7.
The Forum has regularly protested in Israel for a deal to get the remaining captives home. On Thursday it demanded an urgent meeting with Israel's team for negotiating a ceasefire and hostage-release deal, saying a "crisis of trust" had emerged. "It has now become apparent that the information provided to the hostages' families did not accurately reflect the situation's reality," the group said in a statement. "This foot-dragging is a deliberate sabotage of the chance to bring our loved ones back. It effectively undermines the negotiations and indicates a serious moral failure."
Anti-government protesters who have also regularly demonstrated, sometimes by the tens of thousands, have accused Netanyahu of dragging out the war. So have some analysts. Far-right members of Netanyahu's ruling coalition oppose a truce, which would involve Palestinian prisoners being freed in exchange for the hostages.
After Netanyahu's speech to Congress, Hamas issued a statement saying the Israeli premier "thwarted all efforts aimed at ending the war and concluding a deal to release the prisoners," despite Egyptian and Qatari mediation.
