Death toll in Gaza exceeds 64,000

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The death toll in the conflict in the Gaza Strip since the start of the Israeli offensive has exceeded 64,000, local authorities controlled by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas reported this Thursday.

According to the territory's Ministry of Health, the death toll in almost two years of war includes around 400 people who were reported missing but whose deaths have since been confirmed.

The total number of fatalities has risen to 64,231 and the number of injured is 161,583 , according to new data.

The ministry did not say how many of the dead were Palestinian fighters or civilians, but said that about half of the victims were women and children.

The figures were updated Thursday following the latest Israeli attacks, which killed at least 28 people in the Palestinian territory, mostly women and children, last night and throughout Thursday.

The attacks occurred as Israeli troops operated on the outskirts of Gaza City in the early stages of a planned offensive to occupy the territory's capital, home to around a million people, many of whom are already displaced and facing famine, according to the UN.

Shifa Hospital in Gaza City received 25 bodies, including nine children and six women, after Israeli strikes targeted tents sheltering displaced people , the hospital said. Among the dead was a 10-day-old baby.

Three other people were killed in the southern Gaza Strip, according to Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis.

The Israeli military has not yet commented on the latest attacks, although it has repeatedly insisted that it only targets Palestinian militants, blaming Hamas for civilian deaths by hiding its fighters in densely populated areas.

The Ministry of Health is part of the Hamas government, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007, and its casualty figures are considered reliable by UN agencies and many independent experts.

Israel, however, disputes this data , without providing its own figures, while launching a new stage of the offensive in the territory, without signs of a negotiation approach between the parties.

Hamas released a statement late Wednesday reiterating its openness to the return of all 48 hostages it holds , of which 20 are estimated to be alive, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces, the opening of border crossings and the beginning of reconstruction of the enclave.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office rejected the proposal and reiterated that the war will continue until all hostages are returned, Hamas is disarmed, and Israel assumes full control of the territory's security, with civil administration handed over to third parties.

The ongoing war in the Gaza Strip was triggered by a Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, in southern Israel, which left 1,200 people dead, mostly civilians, and 251 hostages.

In retaliation, Israel launched a large-scale offensive in the Palestinian enclave, which destroyed almost all of the territory's infrastructure and caused an unprecedented humanitarian disaster in the region.