Gaza death toll surpasses 21,000 in less than three months, Hamas says

The war has already killed over 21,300 Palestinians, according to health authorities in Gaza, most of whom have been women and children, ITV News' Cari Davies reports

Dozens of people were killed overnight and into Thursday as Israeli forces bombarded cities, towns and refugee camps across Gaza as they vowed to scale-up their offensive.

The war has already killed over 21,300 Palestinians, according to health authorities in Gaza, most of whom have been women and children.

It is thought to have driven around 85% of the territory's population of 2.3 million from their homes.

Thousands more were forced to flee their homes and shelters in recent days, with Israel shrugging off international calls for a ceasefire as they vow to wipe out Hamas.

In central Gaza, Israeli warplanes and artillery pounded the built-up Bureij and Nuseirat refugee camps, levelling buildings, residents said.

Israel said this week it would expand its ground offensive into central Gaza, and typically launches waves of airstrikes and shelling before troops and tanks move in.

A hospital in the nearby town of Deir al-Balah received the bodies of 25 people killed overnight, including five children and seven women, hospital records showed on Thursday.

Constant explosions could be heard throughout the night in the town — where hundreds of thousands of people have sought shelter, with many spending cold nights sleeping on sidewalks.

“It was another night of killing and massacres,” said Saeed Moustafa, a resident of the Nuseirat camp.

Describing how people were still crying out from the rubble of a house hit by an airstrike on Wednesday, he said: “We are unable to get them out. We hear their screams, but we don’t have equipment."

Rami Abu Mosab, who lives in the Bureij refugee camp, said thousands of people have fled their homes in recent days because of the intense bombardment.

Despite the threat of airstrikes, he plans to remain where he is because he doesn't feel anywhere else in Gaza is safe. He said: “Here is death and there is death. To die in your home is better.”

Bureij and Nuseirat are among several camps across the region that were built to house hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees from the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation. They have since grown into crowded residential neighbourhoods.

Some 700,000 Palestinian fled or were driven from their homes during that conflict, an exodus the Palestinians refer to as the Nakba, or catastrophe.

Some 1.9 million have been displaced within Gaza since October 7, when Israel launched its assault in response to a surprise attack by Hamas, which saw 1,200 people killed.

More than 100 hostages abducted during the incursion are still being held in the Palestinian enclave.

Israel's military says it has killed thousands of militants, without presenting evidence, and that 167 of its soldiers have been killed and hundreds wounded in the ground offensive.

Much of northern Gaza has already been levelled, largely depopulated and isolated from the rest of the territory, and many fear a similar fate awaits the south as Israel expands its offensive.

Israel is becoming increasingly isolated in the international community, with even the US, its strongest ally, urging greater measures to spare civilian lives and allow in more aid.

Humanitarian workers say the amount of food, fuel and medical supplies entering is still far below what is needed, and one in four Palestinians in Gaza are starving, according to UN officials.

Meanwhile Western allies have been warning against any wider regional escalation of the conflict, with Iran-backed groups in Yemen, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq all launching attacks on Israel in support of Hamas.

UK foreign secretary Lord David Cameron held talks with Lebanese prime minister Najib Mikati on Thursday in a bid to diffuse tensions.

Clashes along the Lebanon-Israel border between Hezbollah and Israel have continued to intensify, with daily exchanges of missiles, air strikes and shelling across the frontier.

In a social media post, Lord Cameron said: “An escalation of the conflict in Gaza to Lebanon, the Red Sea or across the wider region, would add to the extremely high level of danger and insecurity in the world."

Israeli officials have brushed off international calls for a ceasefire – saying it would amount to a victory for Hamas and would pave the way for more violence by the militant group further down the line.

As Israel broadens its offensive, fleeing Palestinians have packed into areas along the Egyptian border and the southern Mediterranean coastline, where shelters and tent camps are overflowing.

Even in those areas, Israel continues to strike what it says are militant targets.

The Israeli military blames the high civilian death toll on Hamas, which positions fighters, tunnels and rocket launchers in dense residential areas. But the military rarely comments on individual strikes.

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