Middle East crisis latest: The Palestinian death toll in Gaza’s war passes 50,000 as Israel expands new airstrikes

Deir Al-Bala, Gaza Strip- On Sunday, the Ministry of Health in the region said that more than 50,000 Palestinians were now killed in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

The Israeli army also sent the ground forces to a part of the southern city of Rafah, where thousands of Palestinians fled after the new evacuation orders.

Israel ended the launch of a ceasefire last week, with a sudden wave of strikes that killed hundreds, and launched ground incursions in northern Gaza. She says she is targeting gunmen.

The Council of Ministers in Israel agreed late on Saturday to a proposal to establish a new directorate to apply for the “voluntary departure” of the Palestinians in line with the proposal of US President Donald Trump to distribute it to Gaza and rebuild it to others. The Palestinians say they do not want to leave their homeland, and rights groups say that the plan may rise to the extent of expulsion in violation of international law.

“Drinking under the fire”

The army ordered people to leave the Rafah neighborhood already in the Tal Al -Sultan neighborhood, along one road to Mawasi, a sprawling area of ​​tents. The war forced most of the Gaza population over more than 2 million people to flee inside the region, often several times.

“It is the displacement under the fire.” He said the frequency of a tank and drone panels nearby. “There are wounded between us. The situation is very difficult,” he said.

Amal Nasar, the displaced from Rafah, said: “The shells fall between us and lead (flying) above us.” “The elderly were thrown into the streets. An old woman was telling her son,” Go and leave me to die. Where will we go? “

The Palestinian Red Emergency Service said that it had lost a contact with a team of paramedics who respond to the strikes. A spokeswoman for Nabeul Farsakh said that some were injured.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army, which he says is targeting the militants only. Israel blames civilian deaths on Hamas because it operates in densely populated areas.

Strikes kill the leader of Hamas, women and children

Hamas said that Salah Barwell, a well -known member of his political office, was killed in a blow in Mawasi, who also killed his wife.

Hospitals in southern Gaza said that they had received 24 other bodies of strikes overnight, including many women and children.

The Gaza Ministry of Health said that 50,021 Palestinians were killed in the war and that more than 113,000 were injured. This includes 673 people who have been killed since the bombing of Israel on Tuesday broke the ceasefire.

Dr. Munir Al -Borsh, Director General of the Ministry, said that the dead include 15,613 children, with 872 of them under one year.

The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and fighters in its account, but it says that women and children are more than half of the dead. Israel says it had killed about 20,000 fighters, without providing evidence.

The ceasefire in Thaters

The ceasefire, which stumbled in January more than a year of fighting, which was ignited by the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 to Israel, where the militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 hostages. Most of the prisoners were released in the ceasefire agreements or other deals.

In the first stage of the ceasefire, 25 Israeli hostages and the bodies of eight others were released in exchange for nearly 2000 Palestinian prisoners. The Israeli forces withdrew, allowing hundreds of thousands of people to return to the rest of their homes. There was an increase in humanitarian aid until Israel cut all supplies to Gaza earlier this month to pressure Hamas to change the ceasefire agreement.

The negotiations in early February were supposed to start in the next stage of the ceasefire, as Hamas had to release 59 hostages – 35 of whom believed they were dead – for more Palestinian prisoners, a permanent ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal.

These conversations have never started. Israel retracted the ceasefire agreement after Hamas rejected the Israeli proposals supported by the United States to issue more hostages before any talks on a permanent truce.

Hundreds of Israelis gathered outside the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Sunday to protest his dealings with the war and his attempt to reject the head of the internal security service of Shane Pitt.

“I am concerned about the future of this country. I think it should stop. We must change the direction,” said one of the demonstrators.

A new settlement in the West Bank

On Sunday, the Israeli Council of Ministers approved the establishment of 13 new settlements in the occupied West Bank by re -configuration of that list, according to Betzalil Smotrich, the Minister of Finance in Israel, who is responsible for building the settlement.

This brings the number of settlements, which the majority of the international community considers illegal, to 140. The group said they will receive independent budgets from Israel and can elect their local governments.

Iran -backed Houthis in Yemen continue the attacks

In a separate development, the Iranian -backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, who are enthusiastic, fired another missile in Israel overnight. The Israeli army said it had been intercepted, and there were no reports on victims or damages.

The Houthis resumed the attacks on Israel after it ended the ceasefire in Gaza, and imagined it as a solidarity with the Palestinians. Trump ordered the renewal of American strikes on the rebels last week due to its previous attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea.

The rebels said they are trying to prevent Israel, but most of the ships they targeted are not related to the conflict.

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Maggie mentioned from Cairo. The Associated Press Natalie Miller in Nahria, Israel and Julia Frankl in Jerusalem contributed.