On Friday in the Gaza city of Khan Younis, people collect the bodies of Palestinians killed in airstrikes.
Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images
TEL AVIV, Israel — Palestinian officials have released a list of more than 6,700 names of what they describe as Palestinians killed in Gaza since the outbreak of war with Israel earlier this month.
Israel has pummeled Gaza ever since Hamas, the militant group that governs the territory, unleashed a day of violence on Israeli communities near its border on Oct. 7, attacking soldiers and civilians in a rampage that Israel says left 1,400 people dead. Nearly 230 hostages continue to be held by Hamas.
The list of names and corresponding identification numbers from Gaza’s Ministry of Health came late Thursday in response to comments from President Biden casting doubt on the Palestinian death toll. In total, officials in Gaza say that 7,028 have been killed so far, but several hundred have not yet been identified.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby later said the White House did not dispute reports that thousands of Palestinians had been killed.
“We absolutely know that the death toll continues to rise in Gaza,” Kirby said in a briefing. “But what we’re saying is, you shouldn’t rely on numbers put forth by Hamas.”
The list of the dead could not be independently verified. With Gaza’s borders closed, it is impossible for foreign journalists to verify information. The health ministry is run in coordination with the internationally-backed Palestinian Authority, and its numbers are produced in connection with hospitals in Gaza. The ministry’s numbers are seen as credible by…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply