Gaza death toll reaches 12,000, while thousands remain under rubble

Gaza’s government media office announced on Friday that the death toll for Gaza since the start of the war on 7 October has now reached at least 12,000.

The figure includes at least 5,000 children and 3,300 women.

Here are some of the main updates from the office:

• There are over 3,750 missing people, including 1800 children who are believed to be still under the rubble
• At least 200 medical personnel have been killed, which includes doctors, nurses, and civil defence crew members
• 51 journalists have been killed.
• There has been a large-scale outbreak of infections due to the lack of clean water. The infections are affecting around 30,000 people, the majority of them women and children
• A number of official and civilian buildings have been destroyed. This includes 95 government buildings, 255 schools, 76 mosques and three churches
• Health centres and hospitals have also been targeted, and 55 ambulances have been fully destroyed and rendered out of service. 

In the statement published by the government media office, they said that Israeli forces are “fabricating false scenarios and narratives, and distorting information about hospitals".

They warned that this was a “campaign of incitement and misinformation, with the aim of justifying war and genocide".

They reaffirmed that hospitals are only used to provide health services to the sick and the wounded, and called on the international community to remove Israeli military forces from the al-Shifa Hospital, including the removal of tanks, and supply the hospital with fuel in order to allow patients to be treated.