Palestinian death toll from Israeli military offensive in Gaza surpasses 60,000
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How many Palestinians has Israel’s Gaza offensive killed?
Palestinian health authorities say Israel’s ground and air campaign against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip has killed more than 60,000 people. A new update released by the Palestinian Ministry of Health on Tuesday put the number of those killed in Gaza during the war at 60,034 people. Of those, 18,592 or 30.8% were under the age of 18. Israel says the militants killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 people into captivity in Gaza. An international monitoring group warned on Tuesday a worst-case scenario of famine is now unfolding in Gaza and immediate action is needed to avoid widespread death. This explainer examines how the Palestinian toll is calculated, how reliable it is, the breakdown of civilians and fighters killed and what each side says. Sign up here to get the explainer delivered to your inbox every day by email and the Daily Mail is happy to help you understand the story of the Gaza conflict. Back to Mail Online home. back to the page you came from. Click here.
After a two-month ceasefire earlier this year, Israel resumed an all-out air and ground campaign against Hamas in March. Palestinian health officials say more than 8,500 have been killed since then.
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The war began on Oct. 7, 2023 when Hamas militants stormed across the border into Israeli communities. Israel says the militants killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 people into captivity in Gaza.
A new update released by the Palestinian Ministry of Health on Tuesday put the number of those killed in Gaza during the war at 60,034 people, ranging from a newborn baby to a 110-year-old. Of those, 18,592 or 30.8% were under 18.
The official Palestinian Health Ministry death toll dwarfs those killed in previous bouts of fighting between Israelis and Palestinians in Gaza since 2005, according to data from Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem.
An international monitoring group warned on Tuesday a worst-case scenario of famine is now unfolding in Gaza and immediate action is needed to avoid widespread death.
This explainer examines how the Palestinian toll is calculated, how reliable it is, the breakdown of civilians and fighters killed and what each side says.
HOW DO GAZA HEALTH AUTHORITIES CALCULATE THE DEATH TOLL?
In the first months of the war, death tolls were calculated simply by counting bodies that arrived in hospitals and data included names and identity numbers for most of those killed.
In May 2024, the ministry included unidentified bodies , which accounted for nearly a third of the overall toll. However, since October 2024, it has only included identified bodies.
A Reuters examination in March of an earlier Gaza Health Ministry list of those killed showed that more than 1,200 families were completely wiped out, including one family of 14 people.
IS THE GAZA DEATH TOLL COMPREHENSIVE?
The numbers do not necessarily reflect all victims, as the Palestinian Health Ministry estimates several thousand bodies are under rubble.
Official Palestinian tallies of direct deaths in the Gaza war likely undercounted the number of casualties by around 40% in the first nine months of the war as Gaza’s healthcare infrastructure unravelled, according to a peer-reviewed study published in The Lancet journal in January.
The U.N. human rights office also says the Palestinian authorities’ figure is probably an undercount.
Item 1 of 2 FLE PHOTO: Mourners embrace during the funeral of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, at Nasser hospital, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip July 24, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem/File Photo [1/2] FLE PHOTO: Mourners embrace during the funeral of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, at Nasser hospital, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip July 24, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights , opens new tab
The deaths the U.N. has verified up to March this year show that nearly 70% were women and children
HOW CREDIBLE IS THE GAZA DEATH TOLL?
Pre-war Gaza had robust population statistics and better health information systems than in most Middle East countries, public health experts told Reuters.
The U.N. often cites the ministry’s death figures and the World Health Organization has voiced full confidence in them.
DOES HAMAS CONTROL THE FIGURES?
While Hamas has run Gaza since 2007, the enclave’s Health Ministry also answers to the overall Palestinian Authority ministry in Ramallah in the West Bank.
Gaza’s Hamas-run government has paid the salaries of all those hired in public departments since 2007, including in the Health Ministry. The Palestinian Authority pays the salaries of those hired before then.
WHAT DOES ISRAEL SAY?
Israeli officials have said previously that the death toll figures are suspect because of Hamas’ control over government in Gaza and are manipulated. The government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Palestinian health authorities’ toll passing 60,000.
The Israeli military says 454 of its soldiers were killed in combat , and 2,840 others wounded since its Gaza ground operation began on Oct. 27, 2023.
The Israeli military also says it goes to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties. It says Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields by operating within densely populated areas, humanitarian zones, schools and hospitals, which Hamas denies.
HOW MANY OF THE DEAD ARE FIGHTERS?
The Palestinian Health Ministry figures do not differentiate between civilians and Hamas combatants, who do not wear formal uniform or carry separate identification.
The Israeli military said in January 2025 it had killed nearly 20,000 Hamas fighters. It has not provided an update since. Such estimates are reached through a combination of counting bodies on the battlefield, intercepts of Hamas communications and intelligence assessments of personnel in targets that were destroyed.
Hamas has said Israeli estimates of its losses are exaggerated, without saying how many of its fighters have been killed.
Compiled by Emma Farge, Nidal al-Mughrabi, Ali Sawafta, James MacKenzie and Angus McDowall, Editing by William Maclean, Peter Graff, Alexandra Hudson
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662 Days of Genocide in Gaza: Death Toll Exceeds 60,000
More than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s military assault on Gaza since the conflict began on October 7, 2023. The majority of the victims are women and children. In the past 24 hours, 22 Palestinians died and more than 199 were injured while trying to access humanitarian aid. The Israeli military has maintained its offensive across the Gaza Strip since March 18, resulting in 8,867 deaths and 33,829 injuries.
According to its latest daily update, cited by Al Jazeera and Anadolu Agency, the ministry said 113 more bodies, including one from an earlier attack, were recovered and brought to hospitals across Gaza within the past 24 hours.
An additional 637 people were injured in the same period, pushing the total number of those wounded since the war began to 145,870, the ministry noted.
The ministry also reported that in the past 24 hours, 22 Palestinians died and more than 199 were injured while trying to access humanitarian aid. Since May 27, a total of 1,179 Palestinians have been killed and over 7,957 injured while seeking aid.
The Israeli military has maintained its offensive across the Gaza Strip since March 18, resulting in 8,867 deaths and 33,829 injuries during this period alone. Ceasefire agreements and prisoner exchange deals established earlier in the year have failed to hold.
On Monday, two Israeli human rights organizations, B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, publicly declared that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. They cited the widespread destruction of Palestinian communities and the targeted collapse of Gaza’s healthcare infrastructure.
Last November, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel is also facing a genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for its war in the enclave.
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Israeli foreign minister reprimands Netherlands over criticism, ban on ministers
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar delivered a formal reprimand to the ambassador of the Netherlands. Saar said the Dutch government “chose to convert a long-standing friendship with Israel into open hostility towards it” The Dutch government, operating in a caretaker capacity after the coalition collapsed in June, said it would summon Israel’s ambassador to the Netherlands to denounce the “unbearable and indefensible” situation in Gaza.
JERUSALEM, July 29 (Reuters) – Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar delivered a formal reprimand to the ambassador of the Netherlands on Tuesday in response to Dutch criticism over the treatment of Palestinians and a travel ban against two members of the Israeli cabinet.
Saar said in a post on X that the Dutch government “chose to convert a long-standing friendship with Israel into open hostility towards it, precisely during its difficult time, probably out of political interests”.
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The Dutch government, operating in a caretaker capacity after the coalition collapsed in June, said in a letter late on Monday that it would summon Israel’s ambassador to the Netherlands to denounce the “unbearable and indefensible” situation in Gaza.
It also imposed travel bans against two far-right Israeli cabinet ministers on accusations of repeated incitement against Palestinians. That follows similar moves last month against the two ministers, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, by Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway.
Reporting by Tala Ramadan, Ahmed Elimam and Steven Sheer and Menna Alaa El-Din Writing by Menna Alaa El-Din Editing by Andrew Heavens and Peter Graff
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