Over 12,300 Dead in Gaza, Health Ministry Says, as Israel Pushes Further Into Hamas Strongholds

The death toll in Gaza has reached 12,300 people, Gaza’s health ministry said, as Israeli forces continue to expand operations across the war-torn strip.

The Times of Israel reported on Saturday that the Hamas-led Gaza health ministry says the updated death toll comprises more than 5,000 children and 3,300 women. 

The Gazan death toll has been climbing for weeks, as Israeli forces and Hamas terrorists enter their seventh week of conflict. The bloody conflict was sparked by a surprise attack on southern Israel launched by Hamas militants on October 7. Israel, in its response, declared a “total siege” and cut off power to Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas.

Since then, Israeli forces have been pummeling the area with airstrikes and a massive bombing campaign, striking thousands of Gazan targets at the highest intensities and frequencies than ever before, as The Messenger previously reported. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed to unleash fury on Gaza. 

“We will cripple it with a force it cannot even imagine, and the consequences for it and the Lebanese state will be devastating,” Netanyahu said last month. 

The death toll rise comes as Israel continues to expand its warfare operations in the area. Israeli army spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a social media post to X, formerly known as Twitter, on Saturday that the Israel Defense Forces are expanding to the Jabaliya and Zeytun neighborhoods in Gaza, two Hamas strongholds.

“The Southern Command continues to expand its offensive activity to additional neighborhoods in the Gaza Strip and raided the areas of Zeytun and Jabaliya with the aim of hitting terrorists and the terrorist infrastructure of Hamas,” Hagari said.