The death toll in the Gaza Strip has reached 40.000; authoritative research in recent months has stated that the estimate of health officials is downwards and the number is much higher, possibly reaching 185.000 according to Lancet's study

The Palestinian territories have seen an 85% drop in illiteracy rates over the past two decades, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics said

Hamas called on Arab and Muslim countries and organisations to condemn and express outrage against Israeli forces for burning copies of the Koran in a Gaza mosque

WHO and UNICEF called for a 7-day pause in the fighting in the Gaza Strip to allow the vaccination of 640.000 children against polio, after a case was found in a 10-month-old child after more than 25 years

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry asked the International Criminal Court to issue an arrest warrant for Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich for saying it might be "justified and moral" to starve Palestinians in Gaza