Over 55,000 Palestinians killed in ongoing Israeli attacks on Gaza: Gaza Health Ministry
Deir al-Balah (Gaza Strip): The death toll of Palestinians in the ongoing Israeli military offensive on the Gaza Strip has surpassed 55,000, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The figure marks a catastrophic human cost in what many international observers, rights groups, and legal experts have called a campaign of genocide against the Palestinian people.
The Health Ministry, which is staffed by medical professionals operating under the Hamas-run administration, reported on Wednesday that 55,104 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the onslaught, with 127,394 injured. It noted that women and children make up more than half of the fatalities. Many more are believed to be buried under rubble or remain unreachable in devastated zones.
The attacks by Israel escalated in October 2023, following an attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7 and years of blockade, occupation, and systemic repression in Gaza and the West Bank. While Israeli officials routinely claim that only fighters are targeted, the scale of destruction and the civilian death toll suggest otherwise, with entire neighborhoods flattened, hospitals destroyed, and over 90% of Gaza’s population displaced.
Vast portions of Gaza, including what was once the densely populated city of Rafah, have been converted into a militarized buffer zone, forcibly cleared of their inhabitants. Observers note that the level of devastation is unprecedented, with some calling it the most destructive military campaign since World War II.
In recent months, a 2½-month Israeli blockade, imposed after the collapse of a temporary ceasefire, deepened fears of mass starvation. Although partially lifted in May with a new aid mechanism backed by Israel and the US, the system has been marked by chaos, limited access, looting, and continued Israeli restrictions, the United Nations has said.
Israel accuses Hamas of diverting aid, but the UN and international humanitarian agencies deny any organized siphoning of supplies by Palestinian fighters. Aid deliveries remain sporadic and inadequate, as Gaza’s health and infrastructure systems have largely collapsed.
Israel claims to have killed over 20,000 Palestinian fighters, a number it has not substantiated with evidence and acknowledges that Hamas continues to control parts of Gaza outside of active combat zones. 55 Israeli hostages remain in Gaza, fewer than half believed to be alive.
Hamas has indicated that it would release the hostages in exchange for a full Israeli withdrawal, a permanent ceasefire, and the release of Palestinian prisoners. It has also offered to transfer governance to a politically independent Palestinian council. Israel, under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has rejected these terms, insisting instead on temporary ceasefires only to retrieve hostages.
Netanyahu has stated that Israel intends to maintain indefinite control over Gaza and has even spoken of encouraging the “voluntary emigration” of its population, a plan widely condemned as ethnic cleansing and in violation of international law.
With over half of Gaza’s population now homeless and tens of thousands dead, the humanitarian catastrophe continues to worsen amid what Palestinian advocates and legal scholars are increasingly describing as a state-led campaign of displacement, destruction, and genocide.
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Bengal polls: RG Kar victim's mother files nomination as BJP candidate from Panihati
Kolkata (PTI): Ratna Debnath, mother of the raped-murdered RG Kar hospital doctor and the BJP candidate from Panihati, filed her nomination papers on Thursday.
She was accompanied by senior BJP leader and former Union minister Smriti Irani and district party leaders.
Speaking to reporters after filing her nomination, she said her sole aim is to oust the TMC regime in West Bengal, which, she alleged, would ensure women's safety in the state and prevent a recurrence of incidents like the RG Kar case.
Nearly a year and a half after the brutal killing of her 26-year-old daughter inside a locked seminar room of the state-run hospital in August 2024, Debnath agreed to contest the polls on a BJP ticket from her hometown Panihati after being approached by the party "to bring to light the truth behind the crime".
She is pitted against TMC's Tirthankar Ghosh and CPI(M)'s Kalatan Dasgupta.
