45,000 and counting: Gaza casualties continue to mount amid Israeli offensive since October 2023

Almost a year after the Israel-Gaza war, the Palestinian enclave's health ministry said that Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed at least 45,399 Palestinians and wounded 107,940 since 7 October 2023, reported the Reuters.

Apart from that, the Health Ministry on Thursday stated that 38 people had been killed in the Palestinian territory in the past 24 hours.

Among other things, a Palestinian TV channel affiliated with a militant group stated that five of its journalists were killed on Thursday in an Israeli strike on their vehicle in Gaza, reported Reuters, however, the Israeli army said the victims were Islamic Jihad militants posing as media workers.

The report added that these five people were among at least 26 people killed in Israeli air assaults across the Palestinian enclave before dawn.

The Palestinian Journalists Union said one strike killed five journalists from the Al-Quds Today channel who were in a broadcast vehicle in front of Al-Awda Hospital in the Al-Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

The union said more than 190 Palestinian journalists have been killed by Israeli fire since the war began in October 2023.

The Gaza-based channel called the strike a massacre, saying the five "were killed as they carried out their media and humanitarian duty".

Israel's reaction:

Reacting to the Palestine's allegations, the Israeli military said it conducted a precise strike on a vehicle with an Islamic Jihad terrorist cell inside in the area of Nuseirat.

They issued a statement listing the names of the five TV crewmen and saying: "Intelligence from multiple sources confirmed that these individuals were Islamic Jihad operatives posing as journalists."

Earlier on 7 October 2023, the Israel-Gaza war was triggered by Hamas' attack on southern Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage to Gaza, Reuters quoted Israeli tallies.

With agency inputs.