Palestine: Palestinian officials have claimed that since Israel started bombing the enclave more than ten weeks ago, at least 20,000 people have died in the Gaza Strip.
According to the Gaza Government Media Office, at least 8,000 children and 6,200 women were among the deceased on Wednesday.
The somber milestone was reached as the UN Security Council had to postpone a crucial vote on a proposal to increase humanitarian aid for Gaza for a third time to withstand a veto from the US, which usually protects its ally Israel from UN action.
Following the breakdown of a seven-day truce on December 1, the war has transitioned into a more intense phase, with ground combat that was previously limited to the northern half of the territory now occurring throughout the entire length of it.
The US Secretary of State, Mr. Antony Blinken, responded, “It is evident that the conflict will move and needs to move to a lower intensity phase,” in response to a question regarding the steadily rising death toll.
“We expect to see and want to see a shift to more targeted [Israeli] operations with a smaller number of forces that’s really focused in on dealing with the leadership of Hamas, the tunnel network and a few other critical things and as that happens, I think you’ll see as well the harm done to civilians also decrease significantly,” Mr. Blinken remarked.
According to the Ministry of Health in the enclave, Israeli attacks on the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza resulted in at least 46 deaths and numerous injuries on Wednesday as airstrikes continued throughout the region.
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