Gaza: At least 21,978 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory since the Israeli bombardment began on October 7, says the health ministry in the Gaza Strip.
Health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said in a televised press conference that at least 57,697 people have been wounded in Gaza since the start of the bombardment.
According to media reports, the former Minister of Endowments and Religious Affairs and preacher of Al-Aqsa Mosque, Youssef Salama, was killed in an Israeli air strike on his home in Al-Maghazi refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip.
Israeli warplanes bombed Sheikh Salama’s house, killing him and wounding a number of his family members, the reports claimed.
An Israeli watchdog says settlers killed at least 10 Palestinians and torched dozens of homes in the occupied West Bank in 2023, making it the “most violent” year on record for settler attacks.
Numerous West Bank attacks were carried out by a large group of Israeli settlers, and the violence spiked after Hamas’s October 7 attacks on Israel, said Yesh Din, a human rights group.
“At least 10 Palestinians were killed by settlers and dozens of homes and vehicles were set on fire” last year, it said.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Alborz warship has entered the Red Sea through the strategic Bab al-Mandeb strait, Tasnim news agency reported, at a time of heightened tensions over the globally important waterway.
The agency did not give specific reasons for its deployment, but noted that Iranian military vessels had operated in the area since 2009.
“The Alborz destroyer entered the Red Sea by passing through the Bab al-Mandeb,” waterway at the southern tip of the Red Sea, connecting with the Gulf of Aden in the Indian Ocean, the agency said.