Gaza death toll from Israeli attacks surpasses 24,600

The Palestinian death toll from a deadly Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7 has soared to 24,620, the Health Ministry in the territory said on January 18.

A ministry statement added that 61,830 other people had been injured in the offensive, Anadolu reports.

“At least 172 people were killed and 326 others injured in the last 24 hours,” the ministry said.

“Many people are still trapped under rubble and on the roads as rescuers are unable to reach them,” the statement said.

The ministry said its medics had recorded more than 8,000 cases of Hepatitis C among displaced Palestinians due to crowdedness in refugee camps and lack of personal hygiene.

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

According to the UN, around 85% of Gazans have been displaced by the Israeli onslaught, while all of them are food insecure. Hundreds of thousands of people are living without shelter, and ⁠less than half of aid trucks are entering the territory than before the start of the conflict.