Israel Continues to Launch Attack on Gaza, Palestinian Death Toll Now Reaches 32,333 People

Israeli military land operations in Gaza. (Source: Israel Defense Forces)

JAKARTA - The Israeli military killed dozens of people in new attacks in Gaza, Palestinian medics said on Monday, causing the death toll of residents in the enclave to continue to rise.

Rafah, the last refuge for more than a million Palestinians on the Gaza Strip's southern border with Egypt, was among the towns targeted in the latest attacks.

Palestinian medics said 30 people had died in the previous 24 hours in Rafah, whose population has swelled with Palestinian refugees fleeing fighting elsewhere in Gaza after more than five months of war.

"Every bombing that happens in Rafah, we worry that the tanks will come. The last 24 hours were one of the worst days since we moved to Rafah," said Abu Khaled, a father of seven, who declined to give his full name for fear of reprisals, as reported by Reuters, March 25.

"In Rafah, we live in fear, we are hungry, we are homeless and our future is unknown. Without a ceasefire, we will probably die or flee somewhere else, maybe to the north and maybe to the south (to Egypt), " he said via a chat application.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health in Gaza announced on Monday that at least 32,333 Palestinians had been killed as a result of Israeli attacks since the conflict broke out on October 7.

The ministry statement also said that another 74,694 Palestinians had been injured as a result of the attacks.

"At least 107 Palestinians were killed and 176 others injured in Israeli attacks in the last 24 hours," said the statement, quoted by Anadolu.

"Many victims are still trapped under rubble and on the streets and rescue teams cannot reach them," the ministry added.

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

Israel's war, now in its 171st day, has displaced 85 percent of Gaza's population amid shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60 percent of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.