34,789 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces, 78,204 injured in Gaza strip

The number of Palestinians killed by Israeli occupation forces since October 7 have risen to 34,789, with 78,204 others injured.

A statement issued in Abuja by the Palestinian Ambassador to Nigeria, Palestinian Ambassador added that 474 Palestinians, including 116 children, have been killed in the Occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and about 5,000 have been injured.

The statement titled: “On the 215 day of the frenzy genocidal war against the Palestinian people“, said about half of its population (1.1 million people), face catastrophic food insecurity as famine is imminent in Gaza strip.

According to the statement, “among the 677,000 on the brink of famine are an estimated 15,000 pregnant women, heightening the risks for both mothers and newborns. Children’s acute malnutrition rates have doubled since January, with one in three under two suffering from malnutrition. Palestinians in Gaza now constitute some 80 percent of all people facing famine worldwide.

“Only 12 out of 36 hospitals in Gaza and 22 of the enclave’s 88 primary health care facilities are “partially functional” today, according to the UN health agency. The hospitals are operating at limited capacity and overwhelmed with patients, grappling with critical shortages of fuel, medicines, supplies, and medical staff.

“The killing of seven aid workers of World Central Kitchen from multiple Israeli airstrikes on 1 April, 2024, was not an isolated incident. At least 254 aid workers have been killed (248 nationals, 6 foreigners), including 185 UN staff. This total includes the highest number of UN personnel killed in a conflict in the history of the organization.

Citing the UN, around 10,000 people according to the statement are feared to be buried under the rubble in Gaza. It could take up to three years to retrieve the bodies using the primitive tools currently available. Amid rising temperatures that will accelerate the decomposition of the bodies, there is a heightened threat of health diseases spreading.

Nearly all of the 600,000 children now sheltering in the southern border city of Rafah are “injured, sick or malnourished” “Over 200 days of war have already killed and maimed tens of thousands of children in Gaza,”

“Finally, on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day on May 3, UNESCO awarded the Palestinian journalists covering the Israeli genocidal war in Gaza the 2024 UNESCO Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize for their brave and courageous work. It is noted that the Israeli occupation army killed 135 press correspondents, detained another 100, with 45 of them under administrative detention, and 4 of them still missing”, the statement said.