Click to see full-size image. (The Israeli Defense Forces)
The Hamas-run health ministry in the Gaza Strip announced on January 21 that 25,105 people have been killed in the Palestinian enclave since the war with Israel broke out more than three months ago.
In a statement, the ministry said that more than 62,681 people were also wounded in the Israeli attacks on Gaza. Over the past 24 hours, at least 178 people had been killed across the Strip, according to the ministry.
“Dozens are still under the rubble” in different parts of Gaza, the Hamas-run government media office in the Strip said in a separate statement.
“Dozens of martyrs as well as people who were injured could not be transferred to hospitals due to the continued artillery shelling” on several areas of the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza and some other parts of the Strip, the office said.
Ignoring the growing number of casualties, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) continue to conduct ground operations and carry out strikes in Gaza.
In a statement on January 21, the IDF said that the Israeli Navy had struck a building in central Gaza where a number of Hamas were readying to ambush troops. According to the IDF, the Navy identified the threat and, together with the 179th Reserve Armored Brigade, struck the fighters.
Meanwhile, in southern Gaza, the IDF said that in a joint operation between the Israeli Air Force and snipers of the Commando Brigade, numerous Hamas fighters were killed.
And in the Gaza City neighborhoods of Daraj and Tuffah, the IDF said that the 401st Armored Brigade battled Hamas fighters, killing some 15, and raided a building used by the group, where soldiers found weapons.
In addition, the IDF released video footage showing a large tunnel in Khan Younis where Hamas allegedly kept some 20 of the Israeli hostages taken into Gaza during the October 7 surprise attack.
The IDF sustained losses during recent operations in the Strip. A reservist Sergeant First Class from the Kiryati Brigade’s 7421st Battalion was killed during a clash in southern Gaza. Another officer and soldier of the same battalion were seriously wounded.
The last death has brought the number of Israeli troops killed since the start of ground operations in Gaza to 195. More than a thousand others have been wounded.
Despite on and off indirect talks between Israel and Hamas, the war in Gaza appears to be far from being over. There is still no sign of a near ceasefire. Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation in the Strip, where more than two million Palestinians live, is only getting worse.
