https://arab.news/whejn
- The latest jump in deaths is attributed to more bodies being recovered under the rubble
- The ministry said 284 additional people were recently added to the cumulative total after their identities were verified between Oct. 31 and Nov. 7
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip: Gaza health officials said Saturday that over 69,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war so far, as Israel and Hamas completed the latest exchange of bodies under the terms of the tenuous ceasefire agreement.
The latest jump in deaths is attributed to more bodies being recovered under the rubble in the devastated strip since the ceasefire began on Oct. 10, and also because previously unidentified bodies were identified. It also includes Palestinians killed by strikes on the territory since the truce took hold, attacks that Israel says are to take out remaining militants.
Though fragile, the deal appears to be holding, with Israel earlier on Saturday returning the bodies of 15 Palestinians to Gaza, according to hospital officials in the strip. The handover came a day after militants returned the remains of a hostage to Israel.
The exchanges of the dead are the central component of the initial phase of the ceasefire deal, which requires that Hamas return all hostage remains as quickly as possible. The truce is aimed at winding down the deadliest and most destructive war ever fought between Israel and the Palestinian militant group.
The Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage.
Also Saturday, Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian farmers, paramedics, activists and journalists in the occupied West Bank as settler violence reaches new highs in the territory.
Death toll in Gaza climbs
Nearly a month after the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, authorities in Gaza continue to recover bodies amid widespread destruction, using limited equipment and resources.
The Health Ministry in Gaza said that the total number of people killed in the Gaza Strip since the Hamas-led attack on Israel Oct. 7, 2023, has risen to 69,169, after more of the dead were ID-ed and more bodies were recovered.
The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals, maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by independent experts.
The ministry said 284 additional people were recently added to the cumulative total after their identities were verified between Oct. 31 and Nov. 7.
Also, over the past three days, 10 bodies were brought to Gaza hospitals — nine retrieved from under the rubble and one newly killed — along with six injured, the ministry also said. It added that a large number of Palestinians remain missing.
Since the ceasefire began on October 10, a total of 241 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry
Bodies of hostages remaining in Gaza
Israel confirmed Saturday that the remains given back the previous night were of an Israeli hostage who died while fighting Hamas in the militants’ 2023 attack that started the war. He was identified as that of Lior Rudaeff, according to a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ‘s office.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said Rudaeff was born in Argentina and moved to Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak, a farming community in southern Israel, as a child. He volunteered for more than 40 years as an ambulance driver and was a member of the community’s emergency response team.
For each Israeli hostage returned, Israel has been releasing the remains of 15 Palestinians. Following the return of Rudaeff, Israel on Saturday handed over the 15 Palestinian bodies and Nasser Hospital in the central Gaza city of Khan Younis confirmed receiving them.
Since the ceasefire started, Palestinian militants have released the remains of 23 hostages, including Rudaeff, leaving five still remaining in Gaza. Israel has so far handed over the bodies of 300 Palestinians.
Gaza health officials have struggled to identify the bodies without access to DNA kits, and have so far identified 89 of them, Gaza’s Health Ministry says.
Settlers descend on the Palestinian olive harvest, again
Palestinian health officials said 11 people were injured in an attack by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, the latest as settler violence reaches new highs during this year’s olive harvest.
The UN humanitarian office has said that in October, it documented the highest monthly number of Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians and their property in the West Bank since the office began keeping track in 2006. There were over 260 attacks, or an average of eight incidents per day, the office reported.
Palestinian paramedics said that journalists, volunteers and farmers were among those injured in the attack on the central town of Beita.
The circumstances of the attack were not immediately clear and Israel’s military did not respond to a request for comment.
A video of the aftermath circulating in Palestinian media shows a man holding a camera, blood trickling down his face and chest. It then showed the inside of a hospital, where a man in a journalist’s vest marked “press” and others with bandages on their heads were lying on the beds.
With settler violence surging in the territory, volunteers and activists have flocked to this year’s olive harvest to help Palestinian farmers safely reach and return from their fields. The groups have repeatedly come under attack over the last few weeks.