Death Toll of Palestinians in Gaza Rises to 21,978

January 1, 2024 Hour: 9:32 pm

The death toll of Palestinians has risen to 21,978 while the number of injured increased to 57,697 since October 7, Gaza Ministry of Health reported on Monday.

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Ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qedra said in a press statement that the Israeli army killed 156 Palestinians and wounded 246 others in the Gaza Strip during the past 24 hours.

He said that Israeli attacks had killed 326 medical workers and forced 30 of the 35 hospitals in the Gaza Strip out of service.

The spokesperson called on international organizations to protect the healthcare system and its personnel in the Gaza Strip. The health ministry is in talks with UN agencies on the restart of health centers in different regions of the Palestinian enclave, Al-Qedra said and stressed the need to send medical teams and field hospitals to the Strip to meet the enormous needs for health care.

This Palestinian mother has given birth to quadruplets in the besieged Gaza Strip amid Israel’s war after fleeing with her family from the north ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/As6DOTpweq

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish)
January 1, 2024

The spokesperson criticized the mechanism in place for the injured Palestinians to receive treatment outside the Gaza Strip. He said that only 645 injured people have been able to do so thus far, accounting for 1 percent of the total population in need of medical attention.

According to the ministry of health, Israeli forces have killed at least 181 women and children a day in the Gaza Strip since October 7. A total of 9,100 children and 6,500 women have been killed in Israeli army attacks over 86 days.

The number of deceased who arrived at hospitals was 21,822 while some seven thousand people, 70 percent of whom were women and children, are under the rubble or missing, the ministry said in a statement.