Palestinian death toll passes 64,000, health officials say, as Israel and Hamas dig in on demands

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — More than 64,000 Palestinians have been killed in the nearly two-year war in the Gaza Strip, local health officials said Thursday, as Hamas and Israel reiterated their incompatible demands for ending the fighting sparked by the militant group’s 2023 attack.

Local hospitals said that Israeli strikes killed 28 people, mostly women and children, overnight and into Thursday, as Israel pressed ahead with the initial stages of its offensive in famine-stricken Gaza City.

Hamas released a statement late Wednesday saying that it was open to returning all 48 hostages it still holds — around 20 of them believed by Israel to be alive — in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from all of Gaza, the opening of border crossings and a start to the daunting challenge of rebuilding Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office dismissed the offer as “spin” and said that the war would continue until all the hostages are returned, Hamas is disarmed and Israel has full security control of the territory, with civilian administration delegated to others.

The latest strikes came as Israeli troops were operating on the outskirts of Gaza City, in the initial stages of a planned offensive to take over the most populous Palestinian city, home to around a million people, many of whom have already been displaced multiple times.

Shifa Hospital in Gaza City received 25 bodies, including nine children and six women, after Israeli strikes hit tents housing displaced people, according to hospital records. Among those killed was a 10-day-old baby. Another three people were killed in southern Gaza, according to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which says it only targets "militants" and tries to avoid harming civilians. It blames civilian deaths on Hamas, saying "militants are entrenched in densely-populated areas."

Gaza’s Health Ministry said that 64,231 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war. The latest update includes around 400 who were presumed missing but whose deaths it says have been confirmed. It doesn’t say how many of those killed in the war were militants or civilians. It says women and children make up around half the dead.

The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. Its figures are seen as a reliable estimate of wartime deaths by UN agencies and many independent experts. Israel has disputed them without providing its own toll.

Hamas-led fighters killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 people in their attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Most have since been released in ceasefires or other agreements.