Gaza health ministry says 81 people killed by Israel in past 24 hours

At least 81 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours, the territory’s health ministry said on Saturday.

The agency, which is controlled by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, said a further 422 Palestinians were injured in the fresh attacks.

The latest figures bring the death toll since the start of the war to 56,412. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants and its figures cannot be independently verified.

They are based on the number of dead brought by relatives to hospitals, which are now operating under severe restrictions.

The Gaza war was triggered by the attack on Israel by Hamas and other Islamist organizations on October 7, 2023.

Around 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 were taken hostage and abducted to the Gaza Strip.

Since then, the Israeli military has been fighting Hamas in Gaza, with the stated aim of destroying the group.

In the process, much of Gaza has been razed, and humanitarian conditions for the 2 million residents of the sealed-off territory are catastrophic.