Hamas leader says he is ready for a ‘long war’ in Gaza

DEADLY STRIKES

The October 7 attack on southern Israel that sparked the war left 1,205 dead, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

The militants also took 251 hostages, 97 of whom are still being held in Gaza, 33 of whom died according to the Israeli military.

Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,226 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-controlled territory’s health ministry, which does not provide details of civilian and militant deaths.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told AFP on Monday that “nothing justifies” the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.

“We all condemn the terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas, as well as the hostage-taking, which constitutes an absolute violation of international humanitarian law,” he said.

“But the truth is that there is no justification for collective punishment of the Palestinian people, and that is what we are witnessing in a dramatic way in Gaza.”

In central Gaza, survivors searched through the debris after a strike on the Nuseirat refugee camp.

Ten people were killed and 15 injured when an airstrike hit the Al-Qassas family home in Nuseirat, said a doctor at Al-Awda hospital, where the bodies were taken.

“My house was hit while we were sleeping, without any prior warning,” said Rashed al-Qassas, a survivor.

Gaza’s civil defense said six Palestinians were killed in a strike in Gaza City, and emergency services later reported six more deaths in central and northern areas.

The Gaza war has drawn in Iran-backed Hamas allies across the Middle East, including Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis, whose maritime attacks have disrupted global shipping in vital waterways off Yemen.

On Sunday, rebels claimed responsibility for a rare missile attack on central Israel that caused no casualties, prompting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to warn that they would pay “a heavy price for any attempt to harm us.”

In a televised speech, rebel leader Abdul Malik al-Huthi said: “Our operations will continue as long as the aggression and siege of Gaza continue.”