The Palestinian death toll in the Gaza Strip has risen to 50,523, with 114,776 injured, following nearly 18 months of Israeli military operations since October 7, 2023, said Gaza health authorities on Thursday.
In the past 24 hours alone, Israeli military operations claimed the lives of 100 people and left 138 others wounded, with some of the victims still trapped under rubble, according to the health authorities.
Since Israeli operations resumed on March 18, after a ceasefire collapsed, 1,163 Palestinians have been killed and 2,735 injured.
According to Al-Quds, the Palestinian Arabic-language daily, since October 7, 2023, Israeli military operations in Gaza have left 39,384 children orphaned, with around 17,000 children losing both parents.
On Thursday, local sources from the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank reported that Israel Defense Forces (IDF) operations in the area reached their 73rd day. These operations have resulted in 37 Palestinian deaths, the destruction of 600 homes, and 3,250 homes rendered uninhabitable. Streets and infrastructure have suffered extensive damage, while the humanitarian crisis for more than 21,000 displaced people continues to worsen.
Hamas reported that an Israeli airstrike on a school sheltering displaced civilians in Gaza City on Thursday killed at least 29 Palestinians, including women and children, and injured over 100 others.
Several Palestinian media outlets also reported that Israeli operations throughout the Gaza Strip on the same day led to the deaths of over 100 Palestinians.
In response, the IDF and the Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet) jointly announced that Israel's airstrikes in Gaza City killed two key Hamas figures.
Additionally, on Thursday, Israeli military spokesman said that the army had entered a "new stage" in its offensive in Gaza and had conducted more than 600 attacks on the enclave since March 18.
Late Thursday, Israel's military reported that air defenses intercepted a rocket fired from Gaza, triggering sirens in the border community of Nahal Oz. No injuries were reported. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad announced that it has fired a rocket towards Israel.
Palestinian death toll in Gaza rises to 50,523
Palestinian death toll in Gaza rises to 50,523
A high-level mediation team from the African Union (AU) Commission has been dispatched to Juba, capital of South Sudan, to try to ease the rising tensions between President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar, and help resolve the current political crisis in the country.
Riek Machar and several senior officials have been detained since clashes erupted in January between the South Sudan People's Defense Forces and the opposition fighters.
Machar was accused of instigating violence in Nasir in the northern part of the country.
The mediation team says it plans to engage Machar, but that meeting is yet to take place.
The AU is urging South Sudanese political leaders to resolve the current disagreement through dialogue.
Machar heads the largest opposition group that has an armed wing in the country, known as SPLM/A-IO.
South Sudan's government says it's still investigating Machar for being allegedly involved in clashes between government troops and armed civilians affiliated to SPLM/A-IO in Nasir.
"The mandate of the RTGoNU (the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity) is simple; that we stop war, we form a revitalized government of national unity so that we return security, sustainable peace in the country," said Martin Elia Lomuro, South Sudan's Minister of Cabinet Affairs.
Meanwhile, Machar's party members are calling on president Kiir to order the release of their leader.
The group argues that the arrest of Machar means the 2018 peace deal which ended five years of violence in the country has partially collapsed.
The government reaffirms its commitment to the implementation of the 2018 peace deal.
It says Mr. Machar is in conflict with the law and that the implementation of the peace deal should not be used as cover to commit crime. However, until now, South Sudanese law enforcement agencies have not charged Machar with any offense in a court of law.
South Sudan, which became independent in 2011, signed a peace deal in 2018 that ended a civil war between forces loyal to Kiir and Machar. Nearly 400,000 people died in the civil war.
Relations between Kiir and Machar, who have dominated South Sudan's politics for decades, remain strained. The clashes and latest political tensions between the two leaders have unsettled many citizens and the international community.
AU dispatches Panel of Wise to address ongoing instability in South Sudan
