BREAKING NEWS

Several Swedish citizens dead in Gaza, foreign ministry says

A number of Swedish citizens have died in Gaza in the last month, Sweden's foreign ministry said on Friday, citing information it had received from local authorities.

"The Foreign Ministry received the information after Oct. 7. Sweden's general consulate in Jerusalem is dealing with the cases," the ministry said in an emailed statement.

Sweden gave no further information about the number of dead or under what circumstances they had died.

Hamas-run Gazan health authorities say at least 9,061 people - many of them women and children - have been killed since Israel started its assault on the enclave of 2.3 million people in retaliation for deadly attacks by Hamas terrorists on southern Israel.

Israel says the Iran-backed Hamas killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and took more than 240 hostages in the attacks on Oct. 7, the deadliest day of its 75-year history.