Jerusalem: The death toll of Israelis from the October 7 Hamas attacks on southern Israeli communities and military sites bordering Gaza was revised downward from nearly 1,400 to around 1,200, according to Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lior Haiat.
Sources told Xinhua news agency that the vast majority of the Israeli deaths resulted from the Hamas militants’ attack on October 7 and only a small number were from rocket launches.
Data released by the Israel Defense Forces on Thursday showed that since October 7, around 9,500 rockets have been fired toward Israel, most of them coming from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, Xinhua news agency reported.
The death toll is likely to continue to fluctuate for some time to come, and some of the over 240 people abducted to the strip are thought not to be alive, reported the Times of Israel.
“Additionally, as time has passed, there has been a steady trickle of reports on individuals who had been thought kidnapped but who have since been confirmed, through forensic and other evidence, to have died,” it added.
According to the latest data released by the Israeli army, 354 Israeli soldiers have died in this round of the Israel-Hamas conflict. Most of them died in the battle with Hamas militants on October 7, and dozens have lost their lives since the Israeli army began the ground offensive in the Gaza Strip.
The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said on Friday that more than 11,025 Palestinians in the enclave have been killed since the outbreak of conflict.
–IANS