Israeli attacks in Gaza have killed more than 70,000 people in over two years of war, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, as the death toll continues to climb despite the ongoing ceasefire.
Israel's offensive in Gaza has killed at least 70,100 people sinceHamas attacked Israelon Oct. 7, 2023, which equates to more than 3% of the 2.3 million people living in the enclave. A further 170,983 people have been wounded.
The World Health Organization has said that the numbers given by health officials in Gaza are reputable.
A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas remains in effect but has been tested by repeated outbreaks of violence, asGaza's residents face hunger, flooding and the onset of a bitter winter.
Israeli firekilled two Palestinian children in the southern Gaza Stripon Saturday. The two brothers, ages 11 and 8, died when an Israeli drone struck close to a school sheltering displaced people in the town of Beni Suhaila, according to staff at Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies.
The Israeli military said it killed two people who crossed into an Israeli-controlled area, "conducted suspicious activities" and approached troops. The statement didn't mention children.
Sunday's grim milestone arrives more than two years after Hamas launched multipronged surprise attacks on Israel that left 1,200 people dead, with 240 people taken hostage by Hamas and other affiliated militant groups.
An estimated 90% of Gaza's population has been displaced since Oct. 7, 2023, and more than 1.5 million people "urgently require emergency shelter assistance," the United Nations' migration agency IOM said last month.
Walid Qabalan, a 53-year-old man, now lives with his family of nine in a small tent in the Al-Mawasi area west of Khan Younis. On the second day of the war, Walid, his wife, and their children were forced to flee their home in the city of Abasan, east of Khan Younis, after their home became too dangerous to reach.
His daughter Amira, who is 13 and should be in eighth grade, instead spends her time keeping the family safe.
"My days are spent making dough, waiting at the charity kitchen line, fetching water," she told NBC News.
Eleven-year-old Abrar, who should be in fifth grade, left school on the very first day of the war.
"They took our childhood," she said. "Our playtime is gone, our home is gone, our memories are gone."
President Donald Trump's Gaza peace plan wasendorsed by a majority voteat the United Nations two weeks ago, though world powers were still divided over whether it can convert the fragile ceasefire into the long-term solution that has eluded the Middle East.
Designed to usher Gaza from a rubble-strewn war zone into a new era, Trump's plan would establish a "Board of Peace" to temporarily govern the territory and an International Stabilization Force taking over responsibility for maintaining the peace from the Israel Defense Forces currently occupying parts of the Gaza Strip.
The proposal would be "Phase 2" of Trump's 20-point plan first announced in September, "Phase 1" of which brought a prisoner and hostage exchange.
