ANKARA

The death toll of Palestinian journalists killed by the Israeli army since Oct. 7 in Gaza has risen to 97, authorities in the besieged Palestinian enclave said on Tuesday.

"The number of journalist martyrs has risen to 97 since the start of the [Israeli] brutal aggression on Gaza," said the Gaza-based government media office.

The last journalist victim was Adel Zorob who was killed in Israeli overnight airstrikes on Rafah city, southern the Gaza Strip, it said.

The office accused the Israeli army of deliberately killing the Palestinian journalists with the aim “to obliterate the truth."

Israel has bombarded the Gaza Strip from the air and land, imposed a siege, and mounted a ground offensive in retaliation for a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7.

At least 19,453 Palestinians, mostly children and women, have since been killed and 52,286 injured in the Israeli onslaught, according to Gaza’s health authorities.

The Israeli death toll in the Hamas attack stands at 1,200, while over 130 hostages are still held by the Palestinian group in Gaza, according to official figures.