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Hamas says Gaza deaths top 25,000 as Israel pushes offensive

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Mai Yaghi with Chloe Rouveyrolles-Bazire in Jerusalem, Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Displaced Palestinians living in a camp in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, January 20, 2024. Haitham Imad, EPA-EFE." src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2024/overseas/01/21/20240121-gaza.jpg"/><figcaption>Displaced Palestinians living in a camp in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, January 20, 2024. <em>Haitham Imad, EPA-EFE.</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES -- Gaza&#x27;s Hamas-run health ministry on Sunday said the death toll in the war-torn Palestinian territory breached 25,000 as Israel pushed its southward offensive and renewed bombardment in the north.</p><p>Israel is pressing its push against Hamas in southern Gaza as it seeks to destroy the Islamist militant group responsible for the deadliest attack in the country&#x27;s history.</p><p>In early January, Israel&#x27;s military said the Hamas command structure in northern Gaza had been dismantled, leaving only isolated fighters.</p><p>But witnesses told AFP Israeli boats were bombarding Gaza City and other areas in the north early Sunday. Hamas has also reported heavy combat in the north.</p><p>&quot;Dozens are still under the rubble,&quot; the Hamas government&#x27;s media office said, adding that the dead and injured &quot;could not be transferred to hospitals due to the continued artillery shelling on... Khan Yunis and the Tal al-Hawa area in Gaza City and the north&quot;.</p><p>The Israeli army said it &quot;eliminated a number of terrorists&quot; in the main southern city of Khan Yunis and killed 15 militants in northern Gaza over the past day.</p><p>Thick plumes of smoke billowed above Khan Yunis on Sunday morning, AFP journalists saw.</p><p>The October 7 attacks by Hamas resulted in the deaths of about 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.</p><p>Israel&#x27;s relentless bombardment and ground offensive have killed at least 25,105 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/01/21/24/death-toll-soars-as-fighting-rages-across-gaza-israel-raids-west-bank">Death toll soars as fighting rages across Gaza, Israel raids West Bank</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/01/20/24/biden-says-palestinian-state-still-possible-after-netanyahu-call">Biden says Palestinian state still possible after Netanyahu call</a></li></ul><div><strong>- &#x27;Difficult conditions&#x27; in tunnel -</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2922428" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div><p>Militants also seized about 250 hostages during the October attacks.</p><p>Israel says around 132 remain in Gaza, of whom at least 27 captives are believed to have been killed, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.</p><p>In a briefing on Saturday evening, Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said troops had found a tunnel in Khan Yunis where some hostages had previously been kept.</p><p>Among the evidence of their presence were paintings, including by a five-year-old captive, he said.</p><p>&quot;About 20 hostages&quot; had been held there at different times &quot;in difficult conditions without daylight... with little oxygen and terrible humidity&quot;.</p><p>Soldiers entered the tunnel and fought a battle with militants in which &quot;the terrorists were eliminated&quot;, Hagari said.</p><p>Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under intense pressure to return the hostages and account for security failings surrounding the October attacks.</p><p>Thousands protested across Israel on Saturday evening to demand the release of the hostages and early elections to oust Netanyahu.</p><p>Avi Lulu Shamriz, the father of Alon Shamriz, a hostage mistakenly killed by Israeli troops earlier in the war, told AFP in Tel Aviv Netanyahu&#x27;s war cabinet was heading for disaster.</p><p>&quot;The way we&#x27;re going, all the hostages are going to die. It&#x27;s not too late to free them.&quot;</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/spotlight/01/18/24/west-bank-economy-in-tatters-as-gaza-war-rages">West Bank economy in tatters as Gaza war rages</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/01/17/24/deal-reached-for-gaza-hostages-to-receive-medicines">Deal reached for Gaza hostages to receive medicines</a></li></ul><div><strong>- Devastating West Bank raid -</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2923838" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div><p>The UN agency for Palestinian refugees says about 1.7 million people have been displaced in Gaza, with about one million crowded into the Rafah area.</p><p>UN agencies have warned better aid access is needed urgently as famine and disease loom.</p><p>Diplomatic efforts have sought to secure scaled-up aid deliveries for Gaza and a truce, after a week-long cessation of hostilities in November saw Hamas release dozens of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.</p><p>Hamas&#x27;s Qatar-based chief Ismail Haniyeh was in Turkey Saturday for talks with the foreign minister, diplomatic sources said, renewing ties with the key regional power which asked the group&#x27;s leaders to leave the country following the October attacks.</p><p>Violence has meanwhile surged in the Israeli-occupied West Bank since October 7.</p><p>The Israeli military said it demolished two houses in Hebron belonging to two Palestinian gunmen who carried out an attack on a road between Jerusalem and Bethlehem in November.</p><p>An AFP journalist saw a fireball erupt and smoke billowing from a home on Sunday as Israeli armored vehicles maneuvered through Hebron&#x27;s roads during the raid.</p><p>Palestinians gathered outside the crumpled remains of one of the homes on Sunday, with young boys weaving their way through a thicket of tangled metal and rubble.</p><p>One man removed a banner Israeli forces attached to a destroyed house which read: &quot;terrorism has no home&quot;.</p><p>The official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian fighters in a village south of Jenin and the towns of Arura and Qalqilya.</p><p>Rising tensions and violence across the Middle East have also stoked fears of a wider conflagration involving Iran-backed groups in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen.</p><p>Iranian media said an Israeli strike on Damascus on Saturday killed the Revolutionary Guards&#x27; spy chief in Syria and four other Guards members, prompting a threat of retaliation.</p><p>© Agence France-Presse</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/01/16/24/israel-says-war-to-wind-down-in-southern-gaza-as-un-demands-ceasefire">Israel says war to wind down in southern Gaza as UN demands ceasefire</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/01/15/24/hamas-officials-say-gaza-deaths-top-24000-as-war-drags-on">Hamas officials say Gaza deaths top 24,000 as war drags on</a></li></ul><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2914574" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry on Sunday said the death toll in the war-torn Palestinian territory breached 25,000.

Hamas says Gaza deaths top 25,000 as Israel pushes offensive

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Hamas says Gaza deaths top 25,000 as Israel pushes offensive

Mai Yaghi with Chloe Rouveyrolles-Bazire in Jerusalem,

Agence France-Presse

Published Jan 21, 2024 06:52 PM PHT

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