The death toll from the Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip has risen to 18,608 people since the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas on October 7, according to what the Ministry of Health in the Strip announced.

Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra said on Wednesday that the death toll had risen to 50,594 people in the war.

UNRWA is collapsing

In a related context, the Director-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) explained that the agency’s ability to provide services in the Gaza Strip is on the verge of collapse after the killing of more than 130 of its employees in the Gaza Strip.

Lazzarini stressed that the residents of the Gaza Strip “no longer have time or options.”

He said during the Global Refugee Forum, “Facing bombing, deprivation and disease, in an increasingly narrow space, (the Palestinians) are facing the darkest chapter in their history since 1948, even though it is a painful history.”

In addition, the Al-Arabiya / Al-Hadath correspondent reported that the Al-Qassam Brigades launched a new missile salvo towards Ashdod and the settlements surrounding Gaza, while the Al-Quds Brigades attacked an Israeli force of 5 soldiers in western Gaza and caused direct hits.

For its part, the Al-Qassam Brigades said that it targeted two Israeli tanks with shells in Beit Lahia, north of Gaza.

10 officers and soldiers killed

Earlier today, the Israeli forces announced the killing of an officer and a soldier during the ongoing battles in the northern Gaza Strip, a few hours after they announced the killing of eight officers and soldiers in clashes and other operations.

The army said in a statement that the officer worked as a battalion commander in the Golani Brigade and was killed in battles in northern Gaza, while the soldier was a fighter in the same brigade and was also killed in battles in the north.

So far, 115 soldiers have been killed since the start of the ground attack on the Gaza Strip last month.