OPN GAZA
A Palestinian woman mourns near the bodies of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes on houses, at Abu Yousef al-Najjar hospital in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, December 7, 2023. Image Credit: Reuters

Gaza Strip: The health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip said on Saturday the death toll in the Israel-Hamas war had risen to at least 17,700 in the Palestinian territory.

"The crimes and genocide against the people of Gaza are beyond any description... Ending Palestinian existence with American and European support is inhuman," ministry spokesman Ashraf Al Qudra said, adding that 48,780 people had also been wounded in the war.

Over 7,000 Palestinian militants killed: Israeli official 

Israel's national security adviser said on Saturday that more than 7,000 Palestinian militants have been killed during the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

"This is a minimal estimate," National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said in an interview on Israel's Channel 12 television. "It could be more, because we don't know everything beneath places that collapsed and tunnels etc. But that is the conservative estimate."