Arab News | Gaza death toll reaches 74,389 as Israeli strikes continue

GAZA: Continued Israeli airstrikes, artillery shelling, and gunfire across the Gaza Strip have resulted in further civilian casualties, including the death of a young child from earlier injuries, according to Palestinian medical sources.

In the Al-Tuffah neighborhood northeast of Gaza City, an Israeli drone strike targeted a civilian vehicle on Al-Mashahra Street.

Medical officials reported that an unidentified individual was killed in the attack and several others sustained injuries.

Meanwhile, heavy gunfire from Israeli military vehicles resumed in areas south of Khan Younis, and explosions were reported in Jabalia to the north.

Health officials also confirmed the death of four-year-old Osama Ahmed Abed, who succumbed to severe injuries sustained three weeks ago during Israeli shelling on the central Gaza town of Al-Zawaida.

Medical sources reported on Tuesday that the overall casualties since the escalation began on Oct. 7, 2023, have reached 74,389 fatalities and 175,423 injured.

Over the past 24 hours alone, hospitals received seven fatalities—including three patients who succumbed to their wounds and one body recovered from previous rubble—alongside seven newly injured individuals.

Since the ceasefire began on Oct. 11, 2025, authorities have recorded 1,498 fatalities, 5,306 injuries, and the recovery of 838 bodies.

The ongoing strikes coincide with critical revelations from within the Israeli military regarding operational protocols in Gaza.

In a report published Monday by the Hebrew newspaper Haaretz, four active soldiers from the Israeli army’s Military Intelligence Directorate revealed they received explicit orders to drop heavy bombs on inhabited residential buildings without issuing prior evacuation warnings to residents.

The soldiers testified to a radical shift in the military’s rules of engagement and standards of proportionality, describing a systemic loosening of restrictions that treats non-combatant civilians as “collateral damage” during aerial bombardment.