Gaza (Web Desk): The death toll of Palestinians from Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip has risen to 8,306.
According to a statement by the Hamas-run Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qedra, among the victims, 3,457 were children and 2,136 women.
He said that around 21,048 Palestinians were wounded by ongoing Israeli airstrikes.
"25 hospitals have been forced to suspend service due to Israel's bombardment on the Gaza Strip while 25 ambulances have been targeted," he said.
Al-Qedra said that there is not enough blood to save injured Palestinians and called on Gazans to go to hospitals to donate blood.
On Monday, Israeli forces attacked Gaza’s main northern city, coming from two sides, as part of a major ground offensive initiated three days earlier. Inside Gaza, the Israeli ground forces fought deadly battles with Hamas fighters.
As the Israeli military reported striking over 600 targets with the death toll on the Palestinian side soaring to 8,306, residents of Gaza and the Hamas-run government’s media office said Israeli tanks had pulled back towards the fortified fence around the besieged enclave.
The Hamas armed wing said intense mortar fire had pushed the tanks back and fellow Islamic Jihad said its fighters were battling Israeli forces there.
As per the UN, all 10 hospitals in northern Gaza have received evacuation orders, despite sheltering thousands of patients and about 117,000 of the displaced.
Among those being treated are intensive care patients, infants and elderly people on life support systems. The head of the WHO said calls to evacuate Al-Quds Hospital were "deeply concerning".
"We reiterate, it's impossible to evacuate hospitals full of patients without endangering their lives," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Meanwhile, The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is scheduled to meet today to discuss Israel's massive operation in Gaza.
The global forum will discuss the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza.
