- More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its war against Hamas in 2023. Meanwhile, Israel has ramped up its airstrikes, placed new evacuation orders on the southern city of Rafah, and created new settlements in the occupied West Bank.
- Israel’s Cabinet on Saturday approved a plan that would pave the way for the “voluntary departure” of Palestinians, following President Trump’s proposal to “clean out” Gaza.
- These are the latest developments since Israel killed more than 400 Palestinians after abandoning its ceasefire agreement with Hamas earlier this week.
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The Gaza Health Ministry said Sunday, March 23, that more than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its war against Hamas in October 2023. Meanwhile, Israel has ramped up its airstrikes, placed new evacuation orders on the southern city of Rafah, and created new settlements in the occupied West Bank.
According to the Health Ministry, 50,021 Palestinians have now been killed and more than 113,000 wounded as a result of Israel’s war with Hamas. Six hundred and seventy-three people have been killed since Tuesday, March 18, when Israel launched overnight airstrikes, effectively ending its ceasefire agreement with Hamas.
Who’s been killed in Gaza?
While the ministry’s death toll includes both civilians and combatants, General Director Dr. Munir al-Boursh said that 15,613 children have been killed, 872 of whom were under 1 year old.
Israeli officials say that roughly 20,000 fighters have been killed, though they have not provided any evidence to support the claim.
Among those killed over the weekend were Salah Bardawil, a member of Hamas’ political bureau, and his wife. Their deaths, which were the result of an airstrike in Muwasi, were confirmed by Israel’s military.
Rafah residents ordered to evacuate again
Israel has also launched ground incursions into northern Gaza and sent ground troops into part of Rafah. Thousands of Palestinians were ordered to evacuate the southern city’s Tel al-Sultan neighborhood by foot, along a single route to Muwasi –– where Bardawil was killed in an airstrike over the weekend.
Since the start of the war, most of Gaza’s more than 2 million residents have been repeatedly told to evacuate to different parts of the territory.
‘Voluntary departures,’ new West Bank settlements
Meanwhile, The Associated Press reports that late Saturday, March 22, Israel’s Cabinet approved a proposal that will pave the way for the “voluntary departure” of Palestinians after U.S. President Donald Trump floated the idea that Gaza be “cleaned out” and potentially redeveloped as a resort destination. Palestinians have denounced the plan, as rights groups say such an expulsion could violate international law.
On Sunday, March 23, Israel also rezoned existing settlements in the occupied West Bank, resulting in 13 new settlements, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said. Largely considered illegal by the majority of the international community, the West Bank is now home to 140 settlements that elect their own local governments and are funded by Israel.
In January, Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire, pausing more than a year of fighting since Hamas launched its initial attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 Israelis and saw 251 taken hostage.
During the ceasefire’s first phase in January, multiple exchanges of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners took place. However, negotiations on the ceasefire’s second phase stalled in February and March, and last week, Israel effectively ended any possibility of further talks in the near future, when it launched overnight airstrikes, killing some 400 people.
The AP reports that on Sunday, hundreds of Israelis protested the ongoing war outside the Jerusalem offices of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
