Israeli Army Says 600 Soldiers Killed Since October 7

A soldier looks on as he carries the casket of Israeli soldier Sergeant Major Alon Kudriashov who was killed in Gaza during the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, at his funeral, in Modiin, Israel, March 31, 2024. REUTERS/Nir Elias
A soldier looks on as he carries the casket of Israeli soldier Sergeant Major Alon Kudriashov who was killed in Gaza during the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, at his funeral, in Modiin, Israel, March 31, 2024. REUTERS/Nir Elias
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Israeli Army Says 600 Soldiers Killed Since October 7

A soldier looks on as he carries the casket of Israeli soldier Sergeant Major Alon Kudriashov who was killed in Gaza during the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, at his funeral, in Modiin, Israel, March 31, 2024. REUTERS/Nir Elias
A soldier looks on as he carries the casket of Israeli soldier Sergeant Major Alon Kudriashov who was killed in Gaza during the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, at his funeral, in Modiin, Israel, March 31, 2024. REUTERS/Nir Elias

The Israeli military on Monday announced the death of a soldier in fighting in the Gaza Strip, bringing the total number of troops killed since the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel to 600.

The military announced the death of 20-year-old soldier Nadav Cohen, and updated its overall toll to 600 killed since the attacks that triggered the war.

The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 people hostage.

Israel responded with an air, land and sea offensive that has killed at least 32,782 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.

The Israeli military says it has killed over 13,000 Hamas fighters.

The war has displaced most of Gaza’s population and driven a third of its residents to the brink of famine. Northern Gaza has suffered vast destruction and has been largely isolated since October, leading to widespread hunger.



WHO Sends Over 1 Mln Polio Vaccines to Gaza to Protect Children 

Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
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WHO Sends Over 1 Mln Polio Vaccines to Gaza to Protect Children 

Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)

The World Health Organization is sending more than one million polio vaccines to Gaza to be administered over the coming weeks to prevent children being infected after the virus was detected in sewage samples, its chief said on Friday.

"While no cases of polio have been recorded yet, without immediate action, it is just a matter of time before it reaches the thousands of children who have been left unprotected," Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in an opinion piece in Britain's The Guardian newspaper.

He wrote that children under five were most at risk from the viral disease, and especially infants under two since normal vaccination campaigns have been disrupted by more than nine months of conflict.

Poliomyelitis, which is spread mainly through the fecal-oral route, is a highly infectious virus that can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis. Cases of polio have declined by 99% worldwide since 1988 thanks to mass vaccination campaigns and efforts continue to eradicate it completely.

Israel's military said on Sunday it would start offering the polio vaccine to soldiers serving in the Gaza Strip after remnants of the virus were found in test samples in the enclave.

Besides polio, the UN reported last week a widespread increase in cases of Hepatitis A, dysentery and gastroenteritis as sanitary conditions deteriorate in Gaza, with sewage spilling into the streets near some camps for displaced people.