More than 300 health workers gathered outside the Red Cross Children’s Hospital in Cape Town on Tuesday morning’s peak traffic with flags and placards to show support for the children and healthcare workers of Palestine. Picture: Armand Hough / Independent Newspapers
The Palestinian death toll in the Gaza Strip has risen to 14,532 since the outbreak of the Hamas-Israel conflict on October 7, the Hamas-run government media office said Wednesday.
Ismael al-Thawabta, director of the office, said during a press conference that among the deceased were 6,000 children and 4,000 women, adding that more than 35,000 people have been injured.
The victims included 205 medical personnel, 22 people from civil defence teams, and 64 journalists, according to al-Thawabta.
Over 7,000 people have been reported missing, and more than 4,700 of them were children and women, he said.
After Israel and Hamas agreed to a four-day truce on Wednesday, al-Thawabta urged an immediate supply of fuel to Gaza, especially to hospitals and facilities that provide humanitarian services such as civil defence, rescue, relief, and emergency services.
He emphasised the need to provide essential medical items to local hospitals and reinstate the operation of medical institutions that were out of service.
He also called for ensuring basic food supplies to the enclave, organizing urgent relief convoys, guaranteeing the operation of bakeries, markets, and shops, in a bid to prevent a famine or any humanitarian catastrophe.
Under the truce deal, at least 50 hostages, mainly children and women, would be freed for the release of about 150 female and teen Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons, said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office on Wednesday. Israel will also allow more humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, according to the deal.
The cease-fire in Gaza began on Thursday at 10am local time (0800 GMT).