Israel lowers Oct. 7 death toll to 1,200, Ministry says

JERUSALEM — Israel’s Foreign Ministry says the official death toll in Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack into Israel has been lowered to 1,200 people.

Israeli officials have previously estimated the death toll at 1,400.

The ministry gave no reason for the revision. But an Israeli official said the number had been changed after a painstaking weekslong process to identify bodies, many of which were mutilated or burned.

The official said the final death toll could still change. He said a number of bodies have not been identified and it is unclear whether all of the nearly 240 hostages believed to be held by Hamas are still alive.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity pending an official government announcement.

Earlier Friday, the Israeli military announced an expanded six-hour window Friday for civilians to escape northern Gaza along Salah al-Din, the route used since last weekend. It also announced the opening of a second route, along the coastal road, after an agreement announced by the White House a day earlier. Lt. Col. Richard Hecht said the “Rashid” coastal road would be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

An overnight large-scale raid by the Israeli military in the West Bank resulted in the arrest of 41 Palestinians, all suspected terrorists, officials said Friday. The Israeli military said it also destroyed the homes of two militants who it said carried out an attack that killed an Israeli woman and seriously wounded an Israeli man in August. At the time, an offshoot of the secular nationalist Fatah party, the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, claimed responsibility for the attack,

Israeli forces “sealed” a shop in Hebron which they said was used to print “incendiary material for Hamas.” They also raided three West Bank refugee camps where they confiscated weapons.

The Israeli military says it has arrested 1,540 Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of the war, identifying 930 of them as affiliated with Hamas, which has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

The Palestinian Prisoner’s Club, which represents Palestinian detainees, puts the numbers much higher, at 90 detained Thursday night and 2,400 arrested in the West Bank since the start of the war.

In Tel Aviv, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday praised the resilience of communities near the Gaza Strip that were targeted in deadly attacks by Hamas last month, which killed 1,400 and resulted in another 240 people being taken hostage.

At a meeting with community leaders from the region, Netanyahu said: “First of all (our priority is) to restore security — to make sure that there is no Hamas and that Hamas does not return — but also to make sure that there will be a strong life afterward.”