Gaza’s Health Ministry said Wednesday that Israeli forces killed 20 Palestinians and injured 54 in the previous 24-hour period, bringing its death toll since October 7, 2023, to 41,272 and the number of wounded to 95,551.
“The Israeli occupation committed two massacres against families in the Gaza Strip, resulting in 20 martyrs and 54 injuries arriving at hospitals during the past 24 hours,” the ministry wrote on Telegram.
“There are still a number of victims under the rubble and on the streets, and ambulance and civil defense crews cannot reach them,” the post added. The ministry’s numbers do not account for the Palestinians who are missing and presumed to be dead under the rubble, which was previously estimated to be 10,000.
Israeli attacks on Wednesday included a strike on the Ibn al-Haytham School in Gaza City’s Shujayea neighborhood. The school was being used as a shelter for displaced Palestinians, and, according to the news agency WAFA, at least eight people were killed in the strike, including women and children. Israel claimed the school was a Hamas “command and control center” but offered no evidence for the claim.
WAFA also reported an Israeli strike hit a vehicle in Rafah, killing at least two. “The sources reported that two citizens were killed and at least 10 were injured after an Israeli drone targeted a vehicle on the coastal road in Rafah in the Mawasi area opposite the Red Cross field hospital in an area crowded with pedestrians, cars, and displaced persons,” the news agency reported.
Also on Wednesday, the Israeli military announced four of its soldiers were killed in Rafah in fighting a day earlier, which brings the total number of Israeli troops killed in ground fighting in Gaza to 348.
Earlier this week, Gaza’s Health Ministry released the names of 34,344 Palestinians who have been killed by Israeli forces, including 11,355 children. Among the children were 710 infants who did not make it to their first birthday.