Gaza Death Toll Rises Despite Ceasefire as Violence Spreads to West Bank:

Nearly a month after the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, the death toll in Gaza continues to rise amid reports of new killings and ongoing recovery efforts beneath the rubble. The Gaza Ministry of Health announced on Saturday that the total number of Palestinians killed since October 7, 2023, has climbed to 69,169, as more bodies have been recovered and identified. According to the ministry, over 240 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire began, with Israeli forces continuing to fire at civilians near a designated buffer area known as the “yellow line.” The Israeli military said it had killed two Palestinians who allegedly crossed the yellow line — one in northern Gaza and another in the south — claiming both posed an “immediate threat” to its troops. The yellow line marks the area from which Israeli forces agreed to withdraw under a U.S.-brokered truce. Tragically, the violence is not only coming from gunfire. In Khan Younis, a Palestinian child was killed after an unexploded device left behind by Israeli forces detonated, according to staff at Nasser Hospital. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) has renewed calls for the reopening of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt to allow for medical evacuations. The crossing has been a lifeline for thousands of patients needing urgent care. WHO said that about 4,000 Palestinians have been able to leave Gaza for treatment abroad, while 16,500 more remain on waiting lists. “Egypt remains a vital destination for patients needing lifesaving medical treatment,” the organization said in a statement. While Gaza struggles under the weight of destruction and displacement, violence in the occupied West Bank has also surged. Israeli settlers and soldiers have intensified attacks on Palestinian communities, as part of what rights groups describe as a campaign to push Palestinians from their land and expand illegal settlements. On Saturday, settlers assaulted a group of Palestinian villagers, activists, and journalists harvesting olives in the town of Beita, near Nablus. Israeli activist Jonathan Pollak, who joined the harvest, told Al Jazeera that dozens of masked settlers armed with clubs and rocks stormed the area. “They started hurling huge rocks at us, and we had to flee,” he said. More than a dozen people were injured, including a journalist who was beaten and a 70-year-old activist who suffered a broken jaw and cheekbone. The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate condemned the attack as a “war crime aimed at killing journalists,” saying at least five reporters were hurt, including two Reuters staff members. According to the United Nations, there have been at least 126 settler attacks across 70 West Bank towns and villages since September, with more than 4,000 olive trees vandalized or uprooted — striking at one of the most vital symbols of Palestinian heritage and livelihood. Elsewhere on Saturday, Israeli forces carried out raids across the West Bank, injuring a man in the Far’a refugee camp and arresting several others, including a 13-year-old boy in Yabad. In ar-Ram, north of East Jerusalem, another Palestinian man was shot near the separation wall. As Gaza’s hospitals struggle to cope, and settlers continue their rampage across the West Bank, hopes for lasting peace remain distant — even under a so-called ceasefire.

NEWS