gaza death toll reaches 65,000 one day after israel accused of committing 'genocide'

The death toll in Gaza has surpassed 65,000 (Picture: AP)

More than 65,000 Palestinians are confirmed to have been killed,as Israeli troops and tanks push deeper into Gaza City today.

Israel’s military said that air force and artillery units had struck the city over 150 times in the last few days,ahead of ground troops moving in.

The death count in Gaza has reached 65,062,with another 165,697 wounded,since Hamas’s October 7,2023,attack,according to the Health Ministry,which is part of the Hamas-run government.

The figures are seen as a reliable estimate by the UN and many independent experts,who also declared a genocide in the enclave yesterday.

A commission of UN experts found Israel was committing genocide in the Palestinian enclave. Israel denies the allegation.

‘What we are witnessing in Gaza is not only an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe,but what the UN Commission of Inquiry has now concluded is a genocide,’ a statement read.

‘States must use every available political,economic,and legal tool at their disposal to intervene. Rhetoric and half measures are not enough. This moment demands decisive action.’

Israel has continued to deny allegations of a genocide (Picture: Getty)

Meanwhile,Palestinians are fleeing the city – some by car,others on foot. Israel opened another corridor south of Gaza City for two days beginning on Wednesday to allow more people to evacuate.

More than half of the Palestinians killed in overnight Israeli strikes were in famine-stricken Gaza City,including a child and his mother who died in their apartment in the Shati refugee camp.

The Israeli military said it was looking into the strikes,but in the past,it has accused Hamas of building military infrastructure inside civilian areas.

The war is about to enter its third year (Picture: Getty)

An estimated one million Palestinians were living in the Gaza City region before warnings to evacuate began ahead of the offensive,and the Israeli military estimates 350,000 people have left the city.

The UN estimates that more than 238,000 Palestinians of some one million living in the city have fled northern Gaza over the past month. Hundreds of thousands more have stayed behind.

The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel,killing around 1,200 people,mostly civilians,and abducting 251 others.

Forty-eight hostages,fewer than half believed to be alive,remain in Gaza.