A Palestinian child sits at the site of an Israeli strike, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, December 13, 2024. - Reuters
LONDON (Bernama-Xinhua): Global deaths from armed conflicts rose by 37 per cent between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024, reaching nearly 200,000, reported Xinhua
The British think tank International Institute for Strategic Studies, in its 'Armed Conflict Survey 2024' released on Thursday, revealed a staggering 315 per cent increase in fatalities in the Middle East and North Africa -- driven mainly by a surge in violence in the Palestinian Territories, where deaths skyrocketed from 321 to nearly 40,000.
The report also highlighted a 17-percent rise in the fatality rate per event, indicating more intense and lethal conflicts.
The findings "portray a world where inter-state conflict is once again on the rise with the Middle East at the heart of global insecurity," it said.
The think tank also noted that Western support for Israel had fueled regional tensions, escalating the situation to an international scale. - Bernama-Xinhua
