Ministry: At least 7,000, including 2,913 children, killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza
The Hamas-run health ministry said Thursday that at least 7,028 people have been killed in Gaza by Israeli strikes since the militant group’s October 7 attacks on Israel.
Some 2,913 children and 1,709 women are among the dead – marking the highest number of war fatalities in Gaza since Israel unilaterally withdrew from the territory in 2005.
Hamas on Thursday released a list of almost 7,000 names of Gazans it said had been killed in Israeli strikes after the US president cast doubt on its toll figures.
The Palestinian group says that 7,028 people have now been killed in Gaza since its October 7 attacks which Israel says left 1,400 dead, mainly civilians.
The Hamas list of 6,747 names, released by its health ministry, gave the sex, age and identity card number of each of the victims. It said 281 bodies had not yet been identified.
The ministry said in a statement that the United States had “brazenly cast doubt on the truth of the announced toll.”
“We have decided to announce the details of the names to the whole world so that the truth is known about the genocide perpetrated by the Israeli occupation against our people.”
US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that he had “no confidence” in the militant group’s death toll figures.
“What they say to me is I have no notion that the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed. I’m sure innocents have been killed, and it’s the price of waging a war,” Biden told a White House press conference.
Biden has, however, been among several Western leaders to caution Israel over the civilian toll. Israel “should be incredibly careful to be sure that they’re focusing on going after the folks that (are) propagating this war,” he said.
Questioned about Hamas tolls on Thursday, Israeli military spokesman Richard Hecht said that “when the Hamas health ministry comes out with the numbers just take them with a pinch of salt.”
The two sides have had several propaganda clashes during the war.
After a missile hit near a Gaza City hospital on October 17, Hamas blamed an Israeli airstrike and said hundreds had been killed. Israel insists that a misdirected rocket fired by a Gaza militant group was to blame. It has also questioned the toll.
The United States and European countries have backed the Israeli version of events.
A delegation from Hamas, the militant Palestinian group that controls Gaza, is currently visiting Moscow, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a weekly briefing on Thursday, without providing any further details.
Russia’s state-run RIA news agency, quoting a source from the Palestinian delegation, said senior Hamas member Abu Marzook was among those visiting Moscow.
Russia has ties to all key players in the Middle East, including Israel, Iran, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.
At UN, Iran warns US will ‘not be spared’ if Israel continues war in Gaza
“I say frankly to the American statesmen, who are now managing the genocide in Palestine, that we do not welcome (an) expansion of the war in the region. But if the genocide in Gaza continues, they will not be spared from this fire,” he told a meeting of the 193-member General Assembly on the Middle East.
Israel has vowed to wipe out Hamas, which rules Gaza, in retaliation for an October 7 attack that killed 1,400 people and saw hundreds taken hostage. Israel has struck Gaza from the air, imposed a siege and is preparing a ground invasion. Palestinian authorities say more than 7,000 have been killed.
Hamas has told Iran that it was ready to release civilian hostages, adding that the world should push for the release of 6,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons, Amir-Abdollahian said.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran stands ready to play its part in this very important humanitarian endeavor, along with Qatar and Turkey. Naturally, the release of the 6,000 Palestinian prisoners is another necessity and responsibility of the global community,” he said.