The Palestinian Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip announced on Sunday that the death toll from Israeli military operations in the Strip has risen to 69,176 since October 7, 2023, after the bodies of 7 people arrived at hospitals during the past 24 hours.

A statement issued by the ministry said that “the toll of the Israeli aggression has risen to 69,176 martyrs and 170,690 injuries since October 7, 2023.”

According to the statement, “7 martyrs arrived at hospitals in the Gaza Strip, including one new martyr, 6 martyrs recovered [from under the rubble], and 5 injuries during the past 24 hours.”

He pointed out that “a number of victims are still under the rubble and in the streets, as ambulance and civil defense crews are unable to reach them at this moment.”

He noted that since the ceasefire on October 11, the number of Palestinian deaths has reached 241, with 619 others injured, in addition to the recovery of 528 bodies.

The first phase of the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip came into effect on the afternoon of October 10, which resulted from indirect negotiations between the Palestinian Hamas movement and Israel hosted by the Egyptian city of Sharm El-Sheikh, mediated by Egypt, Qatar, the United States and Turkey, based on a proposal by US President Donald Trump to end the war in Gaza. Hamas and Israel signed the arrangements for the first phase of it.

On October 13, Hamas released the remaining 20 living Israeli hostages it held, and later handed over a number of bodies of the hostages, confirming that it continues to work to locate the remaining bodies to hand them over as well to Israel, which in return released about 2,000 Palestinian detainees and prisoners from its prisons, as part of US President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war in Gaza.

The war in the Gaza Strip broke out on October 7, 2023, when Hamas, which controlled the Strip, announced the start of Operation “Al-Aqsa Flood,” and launched thousands of rockets from Gaza into Israel, and its forces stormed Israeli towns adjacent to the Strip, causing the death of about 1,200 Israelis, most of them settlers, in addition to the capture of about 250 others.

Israel responded by officially declaring war on the Gaza Strip, beginning with devastating bombing followed by ground military operations inside the Strip, vowing to eliminate Hamas and bring back the Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip.

Russia has declared on more than one occasion its support for efforts to reach an agreement to end the war in the Gaza Strip and exchange prisoners, stressing its firm position in support of settling the Palestinian-Israeli conflict through dialogue and negotiations on the basis of the two-state solution, which guarantees the establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state and preserves the legitimate rights and aspirations of the Palestinian people.