By Harun Nasrullah
London, (The Muslim News): The death toll of Palestinians from Israel’s bombings on Gaza has risen to 64,231, the Health Ministry said on Thursday, as three more people died of starvation. Nearly a third of the dead are children, with an average of 28 killed each day since October 2023. More than 161,000 have been injured, while hundreds of bodies remain trapped under rubble.
In the past 24 hours, 84 bodies and 338 wounded were brought to hospitals, the ministry said. The names of 401 additional victims were added after their identities were verified. Many victims are still trapped under rubble or on roads rescuers cannot reach, the ministry added.
Israel’s bombardment of Gaza City and Khan Younis continued Thursday, with airstrikes killing at least ten people, including children. Three died when warplanes hit a home near Al-Falah School in Al-Zaytoun, and four more, including children, when a car was struck near Al-Tayaran junction. Drones also targeted homes, vehicles, and gathering points.
Israel’s assault is also destroying Gaza’s civilian infrastructure. The University College of Science and Technology in southern Gaza was demolished, and a school in Gaza City’s Zeitoun district was flattened. Drone footage showed the Al-Furqan Girls’ School reduced to rubble, with nearby homes and streets wiped out. Residents called the area “completely devastated.”
The destruction of schools and universities has fuelled fears of a broader attempt to erase Gaza’s social fabric. UNICEF warned that “the unthinkable has arrived in Gaza City” as Israel pressed deeper into residential areas and displacement camps, claiming to control 40% of the city.
Meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis continues to spiral. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that more than 40% of aid delivery missions were blocked, delayed, or denied by Israel last week. UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said even approved convoys face hours of dangerous delays on “roads that are often congested, impassable, or under threat of attack.”
The war has also taken a heavy toll on Gaza’s press corps. UN human rights experts said six more journalists were killed in the past ten days, bringing the total to 248 since October. This is the highest number of journalists killed in any modern conflict.
They warned that Israel is silencing Gaza’s only professional witnesses. “On the one hand, Israel continues to deny access to any international media, and on the other, it kills with impunity local journalists who are the world’s only professional lens into the agony of genocide and famine unfolding in Gaza,” said Irene Khan, UN special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, and Francesca Albanese, special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Even as Gaza reels, Israel is tightening its grip on the occupied West Bank. Officials are moving to annex parts of Hebron, a city of nearly one million people and a key commercial hub. The plan would create an administrative zone beyond Palestinian Authority control, centred on the Ibrahimi Mosque, under Israeli authority since the 1997 Hebron Protocol. The mosque – recognised by UNESCO in 2017 as Palestinian heritage – has remained a flashpoint since 1994, when a settler massacre killed 29 Muslim worshippers during fajr [dawn] prayers in Ramadan.
[Photo: Arabic teacher Naga Ebu Rahme gives lessons to her students in the educational tent she set up so that students would not be deprived of their education with the start of the new academic year in the city of Deir al-Balah, Gaza on September 4, 2025. The teacher aims to prevent students from losing their knowledge by teaching basic subjects such as English, Arabic, and mathematics in the tent under the shadow of the attacks. Photojournalist: Abdalhkem Abu Riash/AA]
