Health ministry in Hamas run Gaza says war death toll at 27,478

GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories — The health ministry in Gaza said on Monday at least 27,478 people have been killed in the territory in nearly four months of Israeli brutal offensive against the besieged costal enclave.

A ministry statement said 66,835 people have been wounded since fighting erupted on October 7.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that an Israeli victory against Hamas in Gaza will deal a "fatal blow" to the Palestinian resistance fighters as well as other Iran-backed groups in the region.

"A complete victory will deal a fatal blow to the axis of evil that is Iran, Hizbollah, the Houthis and of course Hamas," Netanyahu said in an address to army commanders, according to a statement issued by his office.

Failure to achieve victory will threaten Israel's security, he said, without specifying what a victory would look like.

"Without complete victory the [Israeli] displaced will not return, the next massacre will only be a matter of time and Iran, Hizbollah and others will simply celebrate."

Over the past four months Israeli forces have also engaged in daily cross-border fire with Lebanese group Hezbollah.

On Monday several rockets were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel, the military said.

Israel “struck the sources of the launches as well as additional areas in Lebanon”, including Hizbollah targets, a military statement said.

Netanyahu’s comments came as France and the US’s top diplomats were on separate Middle East crisis tours, aimed at securing a truce in the Hamas-Israel war.