Israel has killed 40,265 Palestinians since October 2023: Health Minister

CAIRO – 22 August 2024: The death toll from the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip has risen to 40,265 martyrs and 93,144 wounded since October 7, announced the Palestinian Ministry of Health on Thursday

The Ministry reported that the Israeli occupation forces carried out four massacres in the Gaza Strip, resulting in 42 martyrs and 163 wounded individuals being admitted to hospitals within a single day.

In a meeting with the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi emphasized that the time has come to end the ongoing war, resort to the voice of reason and wisdom, and uphold the language of peace and diplomacy.

The president warned against the grave danger of the conflict expanding regionally, with potentially catastrophic consequences. He stressed that sparing the blood of the peoples should be the major driving force for all parties and that a ceasefire in Gaza must be the beginning of broader international recognition of an independent Palestinian State, given that the two-state solution would be a fundamental guarantor for stability in the region.

Israel and the US are on high alert for imminent retaliatory actions from Iran against Israeli targets following the recent assassinations of senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut and Hamas political bureau leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran by Israeli forces.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has vowed severe repercussions for Israel at an appropriate time and place for Shukr's killing, indicating that Hezbollah's attacks may extend beyond military targets.

Heightened tensions have been exacerbated by warnings from Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen, both supported by Iran and longstanding adversaries of Israel, threatening severe repercussions in response to the recent killings.