(LONDON) — Israeli strikes killed at least 78 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip since the announcement of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas on Wednesday, Gaza’s Civil Defence body in the Hamas-run territory said.
A total of 81 people were killed in Gaza in the previous 24 hours, a spokesperson for Gaza’s Civil Defence said on Thursday. Sixty-six of those died in Gaza City, the strip’s largest urban area in the north of the territory.
Among the victims were 21 children and 25 women, the spokesperson said. More than 250 other people were injured in Israeli attacks, they added.
The strikes came despite the ceasefire agreement announced on Wednesday after weeks of intense negotiations in Doha, Qatar. The final round of talks followed more than a year of failed efforts to reach an accord.
The first of three ceasefire phases is set to go into force on Sunday, though is still pending approval by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet. If the first is successful, the second phase will begin after 42 days, according to Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who announced the deal in Doha.
On Thursday, Netanyahu’s office accused Hamas of trying to renege on parts of the deal, an allegation Hamas denied, saying in a statement that “The organization is committed to the ceasefire agreement announced by the mediators.”
Mediators hope the nascent ceasefire will form a roadmap to end more than 15 months of conflict in Gaza, which has devastated the Palestinian territory and created a vast humanitarian crisis.
Gaza Health Ministry officials said Thursday that at least 46,788 Palestinians had been killed and 110,453 injured in the strip since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a terrorist attack on southern Israel.
Some 1,200 people in Israel were killed in the attack, with 253 more taken hostage by militants, according to Israeli officials. Following several rounds of hostage releases, Israeli officials say 94 abductees remain in Gaza, including 34 who have been confirmed dead. Four more hostages abducted in 2014 are still being held in Gaza by Hamas, two of whom are believed to be alive.
More than 400 Israeli soldiers and security personnel have been killed during the fighting inside Gaza, nine of whom were killed in the past week, the IDF said.
The Israel Defense Forces claims to have killed more than 15,000 Hamas fighters and other militants throughout the course of the war. Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif were among those killed since October 2023.
ABC News’ Samy Zyara, Diaa Ostaz, Nasser Atta, Meredith Deliso, Somayeh Malekian and Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.
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