Number of Palestinians killed in Gaza rises to 2,450 

Tel Aviv/Gaza, Oct. 15, (dpa/GNA) – One week after the start of the latest conflict between the Islamist Palestinian organization Hamas and Israel, the number of dead in the Gaza Strip has risen to 2,450, the Ministry of Health in Gaza said on Sunday. 

Around 9,200 others were injured in the territory, which is under the control of Hamas, it said. 

This means that the number of reported dead on the Palestinian side in just over a week is already higher than during the Gaza war in 2014, when 2,250 people died in the coastal strip within 50 days. At that time, 66 Israeli soldiers and five civilians were also killed. 

The new conflict is thus also the confrontation with the most deaths since Hamas violently took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007. 

Hamas massacred Israeli civilians in border towns and at a music festival on October 7. It was the worst bloodbath in Israeli history. 

So far, more than 1,300 people have died in Israel, including 286 servicemen and women. 

According to Israeli information, about 150 people were taken hostage to the Gaza Strip. Israel responded with massive airstrikes on targets in the densely populated coastal strip. 

GNA