After 100 days of conflict between Israel and Hamas, which set the Middle East on fire, the number of dead and missing in Gaza has already reached 31,000, as Israeli authorities plan to increase defense spending.
The conflict erupted on Oct. 7 after Hamas attacked Israeli territory, killing more than 1,200 people and kidnapping another 250.
100 days later, the Palestinian death toll in Gaza approaches 24,000, while another 7,000 people are buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings, the Hamas-controlled Gaza government said Sunday.
The Gaza government’s communications office added that there are more than 60,500 wounded since the outbreak of the war, and about 6,200 are seriously injured and need to be evacuated through Egypt to receive medical care.
Hospitals in the enclave remain non-functional or at capacity due to the Israeli siege, which restricts the entry of food, basic supplies, drinking water, medicine, or gasoline.
The conflict has also left around 2 million people internally displaced.
The lack of water, food, and medicine has led to a humanitarian crisis, with hunger and infectious diseases spreading rapidly, with 400,000 cases among 2.3 million people.
Abu Obeida, spokesman for Hamas’s armed wing, the Al-Qasam Brigades, said Sunday that his militiamen would continue to resist and that after 100 days of war, his members had “disabled 1,000 Israeli military vehicles.
The Islamist militias are still resisting as fighting and Israeli attacks continue, leaving 125 dead in the past few hours.
“We have also carried out hundreds of successful military operations in all points of occupation, invasion, and aggression” in Israel, Obeida added.
Meanwhile, the Israeli government is reviewing its 2024 budget to adjust it in anticipation of the conflict continuing throughout the year.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described it as a war budget, and said it will include increased military and defense spending.
“What is required now is, first of all, to cover the expenses of the war and to allow us to conduct the war in the coming year and complete it, including eliminating Hamas, returning our hostages, and restoring security,” Netanyahu said in a meeting with Israeli ministers.
The Israeli army also said on Sunday that its troops had killed some 9,000 Palestinian militiamen in the Gaza Strip and struck some 30,000 targets since Oct. 7.
In the center of Tel Aviv, in the renamed Hostage Square, the families of the 136 prisoners in Gaza – some 25 of them dead – held a massive 24-hour protest to demand that the Israeli government secure their release.
In the last hours of Sunday’s protest, Israeli President Isaac Herzog and opposition leader Yair Lapid intervened to denounce the “failure” of Netanyahu’s Israeli executive to secure the release of the prisoners.
Clashes between Israeli and Palestinian soldiers also continued in the occupied West Bank, resulting in the killing of five Palestinians, including three minors, in the worst escalation of violence in two decades.
Crossfire and clashes continued along the Lebanese-Israeli border, with incidents on Sunday also resulting in deaths and showing that tensions remain high in the area.
On Sunday morning, the Israeli army killed four militiamen who infiltrated Israeli territory from Lebanon.
Additionally, an anti-tank missile fired by the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah killed two Israeli civilians – a 48-year-old man and his 76-year-old mother.
Israeli troops renewed attacks on Lebanese territory, targeting Hezbollah’s “terrorist infrastructure” and “operational command centers” in Lebanon.
The Israeli military assured Sunday that they have carried out a total of 750 attacks against specific posts since the start of hostilities on its northern border on Oct. 8.
By TTU
