The essentials of the watch:

  • The Israeli army and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas engaged in heavy fighting on Sunday in the southern Gaza Strip, where hundreds of thousands of people are desperately trying to protect themselves.

  • Hamas warned that none of the hostages still held in the Gaza Strip would come out "alive" without negotiation and without "meeting the demands" of the Palestinian Islamist movement.

  • In the Gaza Strip, the civilian population is being pushed into an increasingly small perimeter and the health system is in danger of "collapsing" according to the WHO, while the death toll continues to rise. According to the health ministry of Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, nearly 18,000 people have died, the vast majority of them women and children.

  • Early Sunday, the Israeli Air Force carried out "very violent air raids" near Khan Younis, and on the road between that city and Rafah, near the border with Egypt, the Hamas administration said. An AFP journalist witnessed the strikes in southern Gaza.

  • A French frigate patrolling the Red Sea shot down two drones overnight from northern Yemen, a territory under the control of Houthi rebels who threaten to disrupt traffic on this strategic sea route in the context of the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

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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