As the Gaza war moves into its third year, peace talks offer some hope
toggle caption Jehad Alshrafi//AP
TEL AVIV — Israel is commemorating a grim anniversary: two full years since the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed nearly 1,200 people and resulted in 251 people being taken hostage.
The war that Israel unleashed in Gaza nearly immediately thereafter has plunged the Palestinians living there into staggering levels of destruction and death.
More than 67,000 people have died in the war, nearly a third of them children, according to Gaza's ministry of health. Rescue workers say more bodies lie buried beneath rubble, and that the death toll is higher than reported because they cannot retrieve people while Israeli bombardment continues.
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"When the war ends and the search and accurate counting begin, the entire world will be shocked by the scale of the tragedy that has befallen Gaza," Mahmoud Basal, Gaza's civil defense spokesman, said.
The Gaza Strip itself has been nearly leveled, with the United Nations estimating 78% of structures having been damaged or destroyed, lea
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