More than 46,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war, officials say

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — More than 46,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war, Gaza's Health Ministry said Thursday, with no end in sight to the 15-month conflict.

The ministry said a total of 46,006 Palestinians have been killed and 109,378 wounded. It has said women and children make up more than half the fatalities, but does not say how many of the dead were fighters or civilians.

The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence. It says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames Hamas for their deaths because the militants operate in residential areas. Israel has also repeatedly struck what it claims are militants hiding in shelters and hospitals, often killing women and children.

In recent weeks, Israel and Hamas have appeared to inch closer to an agreement for a ceasefire and the release of hostages. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said this week that a deal is “very close” and he hopes to complete it before handing over U.S diplomacy to the incoming Trump administration.

But he and other U.S. officials have expressed similar optimism on several occasions over the past year, only to see the indirect talks stall.

The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250. Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza. Israeli authorities believe at least a third of them were killed in the initial attack or have died in captivity.

The war has flattened large areas of Gaza and displaced around 90% of its 2.3 million people, with many forced to flee multiple times. Hundreds of thousands are packed into sprawling tent camps along the coast with limited access to food and other essentials.

Fatma Abu Awad lost six family members on Tuesday in two Israeli strikes 15 minutes apart. An Israeli strike on a vehicle killed her son, while a separate strike on a tent in Muwasi Khan Younis wounded her son and killed his wife and four children.

“I swear we’ve been waiting for news about a truce every day — but there’s no truce, only news of my son and my daughter-in-law and her children being killed,” she said at a school in Khan Younis where she’s sheltering alongside many other displaced families.

Later at a nearby cemetery, she prayed over the graves of her family, marked only by headstones of cinderblock rubble stuck in the dry earth.

“What we are living is not a life. Nobody could bear the situation we’re experiencing for a single day,” Munawar al-Bik, a displaced woman, told The Associated Press in an interview this week.

“We wake up at night to the sounds of men crying, because of the bad situation,” she said. “The situation is unbearable. We have no energy left: we want it to end today.”

Al-Bik spoke on a dusty road in the southern city of Khan Younis next to a destroyed building. Behind her, a sea of makeshift tents filled with displaced families stretched into the distance.

On Thursday, dozens of people took part in funeral prayers outside the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah for people killed in Israeli strikes the day before.

In the hospital morgue, a man could be seen kneeling and bidding farewell to a relative before slamming a refrigerator door in an outburst of grief.

Palestinian health officials said Israeli airstrikes killed at least nine people in Gaza on Wednesday, including three infants — among them a 1-week-old baby — and two women.

“There is hope every day that there would be truce and ceasefire negotiations would work but it's useless hope as we’ve been waiting for a year and two months for the war to end. On the contrary, we have more martyrs and are losing more of our loved ones,” said Malak Abu Awad, part of the family that lost six people in airstrikes earlier this week.

In Israel, family members of hostages who were killed in captivity echoed the calls for a ceasefire, imploring the Israeli government and world leaders to reach a deal, a day after Israeli soldiers recovered the body of 53-year-old hostage Yosef AlZayadni in an underground tunnel in southern Gaza.

“Military pressure endangers the lives of the hostages,” said Meirav Svirsky, sister of hostage Itay Svirsky, whose body was recovered from Gaza last month. “The policy that prioritizes the continuation of fighting must be replaced by a policy of saving lives and a policy committed to the return of all the hostages.”

Khaled reported from Cairo. Eleanor Reich contributed reporting from Tel Aviv, Israel.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Members of the Bedouin community carry the body of Yosef Al Zaydani, who was in Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip, a day after the Israeli army said his body was recovered in an underground tunnel in southern Gaza, during his funeral in Rahat, southern Israel, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Members of the Bedouin community pray over the body of Yosef Al Zaydani, who was in Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip, a day after the Israeli army said his body was recovered in an underground tunnel in southern Gaza, during his funeral in Rahat, southern Israel, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Fatma Abu Awad and her daughter Malak pray in a graveyard where their relatives who were killed by an Israeli airstrike are buried, in Khan Younis, Gaza, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Mourners attend the funeral of Israeli soldier 1st Matityahu Ya'akov Perel, who was killed in a battle in the Gaza Strip, at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, Israel, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Israeli soldiers and relatives carry the flag-draped casket of 1st Sgt. Matityahu Ya'akov Perel, who was killed in combat in the Gaza Strip, during his funeral at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, Israel, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Israeli soldiers attend the funeral of 1st Sgt. Matityahu Ya'akov Perel, who was killed in a battle in the Gaza Strip, at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Palestinians carry the bodies of their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Kareem Al-Dabaji mourns his brother Anas Al-Dabaji, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike that hit an apartment in Deir Al-Balah, at Al-Aqsa Hospital morgue in Deir Al-Balah, Gaza, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Members of the Bedouin community, part of Israel's Palestinian minority who have Israeli citizenship, attend the funeral of Yosef Al Zaydani in Rahat, southern Israel, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 after the Israeli military said his body of was recovered in an underground tunnel in southern Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Members of the Bedouin community, part of Israel's Palestinian minority who have Israeli citizenship, attend the funeral of Yosef Al Zaydani in Rahat, southern Israel, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 after the Israeli military said his body of was recovered in an underground tunnel in southern Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Smoke rises following an explosion in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Smoke rises following an explosion in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Palestinian women look at a damaged residential building following an overnight Israeli strike in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinian kids look at a damaged residential building following an overnight Israeli strike in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip, as seen from Sderot, southern Israel, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin used their final meeting Thursday to press the incoming Trump administration not to give up on Kyiv’s fight, with Austin warning that to cease military support now “will only invite more aggression, chaos and war.”

“We’ve come such a long way that it would honestly be crazy to drop the ball now and not keep building on the defense coalitions we’ve created,” Zelenskyy said. “No matter what’s going on in the world, everyone wants to feel sure that their country will not just be erased off the map.”

President-elect Donald Trump’s pronouncements about pushing for a quick end to the war, his kinship with Russian President Vladimir Putin and uncertainty over whether he will support further military aid to Ukraine have triggered concern among allies.

The Biden administration has worked to provide Ukraine with as much military support as it can, including approving a new $500 million package of weapons and relaxing restrictions on missile strikes into Russia, with the aim of putting Ukraine in the strongest position possible for any future negotiations to end the war.

Austin doubled down on Zelenskyy's appeal, saying “no responsible leader will let Putin have his way.”

And while Austin acknowledged he has no idea what Trump will do, he said the international leaders gathered Thursday at Ramstein Air Base talked about the need to continue the mission.

The leaders were attending a gathering of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a consortium of about 50 partner nations that Austin brought together months after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 to coordinate weapons support.

“I’m leaving this contact group not with a farewell but with a challenge. The coalition to support Ukraine must not flinch. It must not falter. And it must not fail,” Austin said during his final press conference. “Ukraine’s survival is on the line. But so is all of our security.”

Some discussed what they would do if the U.S. backed away from its support for Kyiv, if the contact group would assume a new shape under one of its major European contributors, such as Germany. Germany’s Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said his country and several other European nations are discussing options.

Austin said the continuation of the group is essential, calling it “the arsenal of Ukrainian democracy” and “the most consequential global coalition in more than 30 years.”

Pistorius said he intends to travel to the U.S. shortly after the Jan. 20 inauguration to meet his new counterpart to discuss the issue.

“It’s clear a new chapter starts for Europe and the entire world just 11 days from now,” and it will require even more cooperation, Zelenskyy said.

Ukraine has launched a second offensive in Russia’s Kursk region and is facing a barrage of long-range missiles and ongoing advances from Russia as both sides seek to put themselves in the strongest negotiating position possible before Trump takes office.

Zelenskyy called the Kursk offensive “one of our biggest wins,” which has cost Russia and North Korea, which sent soldiers to help Russia, thousands of troops. Zelenskyy said the offensive resulted in North Korea suffering 4,000 casualties, but U.S. estimates put the number lower at about 1,200.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine will continue to need air defense systems and munitions to defend against Russia's missile attacks.

The latest aid package includes missiles for air defense and for fighter jets, sustainment equipment for F-16s, armored bridging systems and small arms and ammunition.

The weapons are funded through presidential drawdown authority, meaning they can be pulled directly from U.S. stockpiles, and the Pentagon is pushing to get them into Ukraine before the end of the month.

Unless there is another aid package approved, the Biden administration will leave about $3.85 billion in congressionally authorized funding for any future arms shipments to Ukraine. It will be up to Trump to decide whether or not to spend it.

“If Putin swallows Ukraine, his appetite will only grow,” Austin told the contact group leaders. "If tyrants learn that aggression pays, we will only invite even more aggression, chaos, and war.”

In the months since Trump's election victory, Europeans have grappled with what that change will mean in terms of their fight to keep Russia from further advancing, and whether the post-World War II Western alliance will hold.

In recent days, Trump has threatened to take Greenland, which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark — a NATO member — by military means if necessary. Such action would upend all norms of the historic NATO alliance and possibly require members to come to the defense of Denmark.

Austin declined to comment on Trump’s threat, but Pistorius called it “diplomatically astonishing.”

“Alliances are alliances, to stay alliances. Regardless of who is governing countries,” Pistorius said. “I'm quite optimistic that remarks like that won't really influence U.S. politics after the 20th of January.”

Globally, countries including the U.S. have ramped up weapons production as the Ukraine war exposed that all of those stockpiles were woefully unprepared for a major conventional land war.

The U.S. has provided about $66 billion of the total aid since February 2022 and has been able to deliver most of that total — between 80% and 90% — already to Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends a meeting of the Ukraine Contact Group at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (Marijan Murat/dpa via AP)

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, right, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attend a meeting of the Ukraine Contact Group at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (Marijan Murat/dpa via AP)

From left: U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius attend a meeting of the Ukraine Contact Group at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (Marijan Murat/dpa via AP)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, and German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius attend a meeting of the Ukraine Contact Group at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (Marijan Murat/dpa via AP)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, and German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius attend a meeting of the Ukraine Contact Group at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (Marijan Murat/dpa via AP)

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius attends a meeting of the Ukraine Contact Group at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (Marijan Murat/dpa via AP)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, and German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius attend a meeting of the Ukraine Contact Group at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (Marijan Murat/dpa via AP)