Death toll rises to more than 25,000 in Gaza as Israel's war continues

Jan. 21 (UPI) -- The death toll in Gaza has risen to more than 25,000 people as Israel's war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas continues in the enclave.

The Gaza Health Ministry said Sunday that 25,105 people have been killed and 62,681 have been injured since Israel began the war, retaliating for the Oct. 7 attacks by the Iran-backed Hamas. Palestinian health officials said 178 people were killed by U.S.-backed Israeli troops in the last 24 hours alone.

The death toll had approached 23,000 by Jan. 7, meaning more than 2,000 people had been killed in just two weeks of the war.

Hamas has stated that its attack last year came after raids on the Al-Aqsa Mosque, one of Islam's holiest sites, by Israeli Police and violence perpetrated by Israeli settlers, leading to the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians last year alone in a decades-long conflict.

At least 237 Palestinians were killed by Israelis before the Oct. 7 attack and the Palestine Red Crescent Society reported last year that its healthcare workers experienced 193 separate attacks from Israeli forces in the first six months of the year, a 310% increase compared to the same period in 2022.

Some 1,200 Israelis were killed on Oct. 7 with more than 240 others taken Hostage.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres chastised Israel over the level of destruction Israel's war in Gaza has caused, including the deaths of more than 150 U.N. staff.

"Israel's military operations have spread massive destruction and killed civilians on a scale unprecedented during my time as secretary general," he said Sunday during a U.N. summit.

"This is heart breaking and utterly unacceptable."

The U.N. head also reiterated his disapproval of Israel's recent repeated rejections of a two-state solution.

"The denial of the right to statehood for the Palestinian people would indefinitely prolong a conflict that has become a major threat to global peace and security, exacerbate polarization and embolden extremists everywhere," he said.

The Israeli Defense Forces said Sunday that it had killed 15 "terrorists" in Daraj Tuffah. Israel and the United States consider Hamas to be a terrorist organization. And in Khan Yunis, Israeli officials said its snipers had "eliminated a number of terrorists."

Hamas has not said how many of its fighters have been killed, though Israel claims that number is in the thousands. In December, an IDF spokesperson told CNN that it was "tremendously positive" that Israel had killed a Hamas militant for ever two Palestinian civilians it has killed in Gaza.

But, as reported by The Wall Street Journal, the death toll of Hamas fighters alone has fallen short of Israel's goal to eliminate the group, which governs the Gaza enclave.

"We have completed the dismantling of Hamas' military framework in the northern Gaza Strip and will continue to deepen the achievement, strengthening the barrier and the defense components along the security fence," Daniel Hagari, the spokesperson for Israel's military, said earlier this month.

"Now, we are focusing on dismantling Hamas in the central and southern Gaza Strip. We will do this differently, thoroughly, based on the lessons we have learned from the fighting so far."