According to the same information, cited by the France-Presse news agency, that number includes more than 4,800 children and almost 2,600 women among the fatalities since October 7th.
In a statement, the ministry said that “more than 200 martyrs” were killed in intense Israeli bombings carried out last night, specifying that this number only covered Gaza City and the northern part of the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli army confirmed today that it bombed 450 Hamas targets overnight and killed a leader of the Palestinian Islamist movement in the Gaza Strip, which Israeli forces want to divide in half.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it “attacked 450 targets from the air and killed Hamas commanders in joint cooperation with Shin Bet,” the Israeli military intelligence agency.
In a statement, the military added that troops on the ground “took control of a Hamas military complex,” which was made up of “observation posts, training areas for Hamas members and underground terrorist tunnels.”
The army added that “several Hamas terrorists died during the operation” in the Gaza Strip, which on Sunday night suffered its third total telecommunications blackout since the start of the war on October 7.
The IDF has not specified the location of the Hamas military complex, but on Sunday night a spokesman indicated that Israeli troops had reached the Mediterranean coast, cutting the enclave in two.
Palestinians, some with foreign passports hoping to cross into Egypt and others waiting for aid wait at the Rafah crossing in the southern Gaza strip, on October 16, 2023. The death toll from Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip has risen to around 2,750 since Hamas’s deadly attack on southern Israel last week, the Gaza health ministry said October 16. Some 9,700 people have also been injured as Israel continued its withering air campaign on targets in the Palestinian coastal enclave, the Hamas-controlled ministry added. (Photo by Mohammed ABED / AFP)
Daniel Hagari clarified that the Israeli army already maintains extensive control of the northern half of Palestinian territory and is tightening its siege on Gaza City, the main population center located in that area.
The IDF also reported that the 450 targets attacked by air overnight included “tunnels, terrorists, military compounds, observation posts and anti-tank missile launch sites”.
Israeli naval forces also attacked “command centers, anti-tank launch points and additional observation posts” of the al-Qasam brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, which carried out the massive attack on Israeli soil on October 7, which left more 1,400 dead, 5,400 injured and captured 241 hostages.
The Israeli army also claimed to have killed “several Hamas terrorists, including another commander Jamal Mussa, responsible for special security operations”, who is credited with carrying out an attack on Israeli soldiers on the border with Gaza in 1993.
Also today, two police officers were injured in a knife attack carried out by a Palestinian against an Israeli police post at one of the entrances to the Old City of Jerusalem.
The Israeli emergency service said it treated the two injured, a woman in critical condition and a man with minor injuries, who were later transferred to Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem.
Police forces “neutralized” the attacker, although police did not clarify whether the man was detained or killed.
*With Lusa
