The devastating Gaza conflict has claimed over 12,400 lives on both the Palestinian and Israeli sides, according to data released by health authorities on both sides on Friday, Reuters reports.
The Gaza Strip's health department on Friday revealed a staggering death toll of 11,078 people since the outbreak of the current round of the Hamas-Israeli conflict starting on Oct 7.
In addition, the West Bank has reported 183 fatalities.
Israel has revised downwards the death toll from the attack by Hamas on Oct 7 to about 1,200 from a previous government estimate of 1,400.
According to a spokesman of Israel's Foreign Ministry, the revise was made due to the fact that there were a lot of unidentified bodies, and Israel believed some of the dead were Hamas fighters rather than Israelis.
The Palestinian side said on Friday that the Israeli army launched attacks on multiple hospitals in the Gaza Strip that day, killing dozens of Palestinians.
According to the health department in the Gaza Strip, since the outbreak of the conflict, 21 out of the total 35 hospitals in the Gaza Strip have closed.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health said that day that since Oct 7, there have been more than 270 attacks on medical institutions in the Gaza Strip; in addition, at least 57 ambulances were damaged, 45 of which were completely destroyed.
Fighting continues between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.
On Friday, the Israeli army continued its air strikes on the Gaza Strip and advanced ground operations while the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) continued to attack Israeli military targets.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) stated that day that since the outbreak of the conflict, the Israeli army has attacked more than 15,000 Hamas targets and seized 6,000 weapons, including anti-tank missiles. Moreover, the IDF said that the Israeli army has now taken control of important Hamas outposts in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas said on Friday that it had fired rockets into Israel in response to the rising civilian death toll in the Gaza Strip.
The Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, announced on Friday that they continued to fight with the Israeli army that day and attacked Israeli tanks among other targets.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that the IDF will take control of the Gaza Strip after the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.
"After the elimination of Hamas, there will be total Israeli security control of the Gaza Strip, including full demilitarization, to ensure that there is no longer a threat from Gaza to Israel's citizens," Netanyahu told mayors of Israeli towns near Gaza border during a meeting in Tel Aviv. "We will not give it (Gaza) to international forces," he said.
The meeting was held after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas reaffirmed early in the day that Palestinians "will not accept the reoccupation of Gaza or the annexation of any parts of it under any pretext" when addressing a ceremony in memory of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
The Palestinian government is prepared to assume its responsibilities in the Gaza Strip as part of a comprehensive political settlement in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, said Abbas.
Abbas also called for the delivery of humanitarian aids, including medical supplies, food, water, electricity, and fuel, into the Gaza Strip and asked Israel to stop its "aggression" in the Gaza Strip.
