Key takeaways:

  • Israel on Saturday mourned the deaths of three hostages killed "by mistake" by its own soldiers in the Gaza Strip. Families of hostages and supporters marched Friday night with photos of captives in front of the Israeli Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv to demand an immediate agreement for their release.

  • Hamas reported "fierce fighting" in the Jabaliya area and intense airstrikes and artillery fire in Khan Younis, the new epicenter of the fighting in the south of the territory.

Highlights of the previous day:

  • The Israeli army announced that it had recovered in the Gaza Strip and brought back to Israel the remains of French-Israeli Elya Toledano, who had been taken hostage by Hamas during its bloody attack on 7 October, as well as those of two Israeli soldiers.

  • It also said soldiers operating in the Gaza Strip had killed three Israeli hostages "mistakenly identified" as a "threat." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in the evening that he regretted an "unbearable tragedy" that plunged "the entire State of Israel into mourning."

  • Israel has announced that it has "temporarily" approved the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip through one of its crossings, Kerem Shalom, in order to relieve congestion at the Rafah crossing between the Palestinian territory and Egypt.

  • Israel stepped up its air raids in the Gaza Strip on Friday, warning that its war against Hamas is likely to drag on for months, as its US ally urges it to reduce the intensity of its strikes to protect civilians.

  • Early Friday, Hamas' health ministry reported "dozens dead and wounded" in airstrikes in Khan Younis, the new epicenter of the war in the southern Gaza Strip.

  • The Palestinian Hamas government announced that Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip had killed 18,800 people since the war began on October 7.

With AFP and Reuters

Namely: The number of casualties is provided by Gaza's Hamas-run Ministry of Health

The ministry collects information from hospitals in the enclave and the Palestinian Red Crescent.

Gaza's health ministry does not say how Palestinians were killed, either by Israeli airstrikes and/or barrages or failed Palestinian rocket fire. It describes all victims as victims of "Israeli aggression" and also makes no distinction between civilians and combatants.

During the four wars and the numerous clashes between Israel and Hamas, UN agencies have regularly cited Health Ministry figures in their reports. The International Committee of the Red Cross and the Palestine Red Crescent Society also use these figures.

In the aftermath of previous episodes of war, the United Nations Humanitarian Office published casualty figures based on its own research into medical records. The UN figures are largely in agreement with those of Gaza's Ministry of Health, with a few differences.

To read more about Gaza's Ministry of Health's assessments, click here or here.

(France 24 with AP)

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