Smoke billows over Khan Yunis from Rafah in the southern Gaza strip during Israeli bombardment on Jan 2, 2024 amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. (PHOTO / AFP)

JERUSALEM/GAZA/BEIRUT/DAMASCUS - The death toll of Palestinians has exceeded 22,000 after the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas conflict on Oct 7, the Hamas-run Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

The ministry said in a press statement that the Israeli army killed 207 Palestinians and wounded 338 others in the Gaza Strip during the past 24 hours.

Israel decided to appear at the United Nations' International Court of Justice in Hague, the Netherlands, in the hearing of the case filed by South Africa alleging "genocidal" acts in Gaza, Israeli news website Ynet reported

The new causalities bring the number of Palestinian deaths to 22,185 and injuries to 57,035 since Oct 7, according to the statement.

Meanwhile, Israel decided to appear at the United Nations' International Court of Justice in Hague, the Netherlands, in the hearing of the case filed by South Africa alleging "genocidal" acts in Gaza, Israeli news website Ynet reported Monday evening.

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"Israel has signed the convention against genocide for decades, and we will certainly not boycott the proceeding, but stand up and repel the absurd blood plot against us," Israel's national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi told the website.

According to the report, the decision was preceded by intensive discussions in Israel by senior officials led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The case, filed on Friday, claims "alleged violations by Israel of its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide concerning Palestinians in the Gaza Strip," according to the ICJ.

South Africa urged the UN court to take "provisional measures" to "protect against further, severe and irreparable harm to the rights of the Palestinian people under the Genocide Convention." 

Israeli soldiers from the artillery unit store tank shells in a staging area at the Israeli-Gaza border in southern Israel, Jan 1, 2024. (PHOTO / AP)

Also on Monday, at least 15 Palestinians were killed and several others wounded Monday in an Israeli airstrike on the city of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, local Palestinian sources said.

The sources told Xinhua that the Israeli airstrike targeted a house that was occupied by displaced people who had fled their homes because of the ongoing Israeli offensive.

The Israel Defense Forces said on Monday it had arrested more than 2,550 wanted people in the West Bank since the outbreak of the conflict

Rescue workers are currently searching for survivors under the rubble while reports of missing persons continue to emerge, the sources said.

Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qedra said that Israeli attacks had killed 326 medical workers and forced 30 of the 35 hospitals in the Gaza Strip out of service.

Al-Qedra called on international organizations to protect the healthcare system and its personnel in the Gaza Strip and said his ministry was in talks with UN agencies on the restart of health centers in different regions of the Palestinian enclave.

He also stressed the need to send medical teams and field hospitals to the Strip to meet the enormous needs for health care.

He criticized the mechanism in place for the injured Palestinians to receive treatment outside the Gaza Strip, pointing out that only 645 wounded people have been able to do so thus far, accounting for 1 percent of the total population in need of medical attention.  

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Palestinians wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip receive treatment at the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, Southern Gaza Strip, Dec 31, 2023. (PHOTO / AP)

Over 2,550 Palestinians arrested in West Bank 

The Israel Defense Forces said on Monday it had arrested more than 2,550 wanted people in the West Bank since the outbreak of the conflict.

The IDF said in a statement that about 1,300 of the detainees were Hamas members.

On the night between Sunday and Monday, the IDF, the Israeli Security Agency (ISA), and the Border Police arrested 10 wanted people throughout the West Bank and confiscated many weapons, according to the statement.

The arrests were made in the town of Qatanna near Jerusalem, in the village of Beit Iba located near the city of Nablus, and in the town of Bani Na'im near the city of Hebron, it said, adding "terror" funds were confiscated in another Israeli operation in Hebron. 

This photo taken on Dec 31, 2023 shows a damaged house in Kfarkela, Lebanon. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

Hezbollah fighters killed

Three Hezbollah fighters were killed on Monday in confrontations with Israeli forces on the border area in southern Lebanon, Lebanese military sources said.

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the casualties resulted from Israel firing eight air-to-surface missiles in the southeastern village of Kafr Kila.

In addition, the Israeli army launched air strikes and heavy artillery targeting several villages and towns in southern Lebanon, destroying eight houses, and damaging dozens of others, the sources noted.

Hezbollah said its fighters attacked an Israeli site in Hadab Al-Bustan, a gathering of soldiers in the Ya'ara Barracks, the al-Motella settlement, and the Hanita site, leading to some casualties.

Syria shelled

Militants in Syria fired projectiles at Israeli settlements in the occupied Golan Heights on Monday, prompting retaliatory shelling from the Israeli military, according to Syrian pro-government media and a war monitor.

The pro-government Sham FM radio reported that agricultural lands in Daraa province, bordering the Golan Heights, sustained damage from Israeli artillery fire, adding the attack came in response to the launch of four missiles from Syria toward two Israeli settlements.

The report said the targeted Syrian lands are in the Yarmouk Basin, in the western countryside of Daraa. It added that the Syrian missiles landed near the Israeli settlements of Eliad and Avnei Etan.

Israel has intensified airstrikes on Syrian targets in recent weeks, coinciding with its ongoing military campaign in the Gaza Strip.