More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the health ministry in the territory, which is controlled by the Islamist group, said Thursday.
The Israeli offensive also left 92,401 people injured and forced more than 85 percent of Gaza’s residents to flee their homes, Gaza’s health ministry said. The toll does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
The announcement came as international mediators are once again trying to broker a ceasefire to end the 10-month-old war.
The conflict began on October 7 when Hamas-led fighters attacked southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and dragging about 250 hostages to Gaza.
Israel says 111 of the captives have still not been released, including the bodies of 39 people. The remaining hostages reportedly include 15 women and two children under the age of 5.
Probably higher balance sheet
In Gaza, health workers are struggling to fully identify victims as bodies pour into already overwhelmed hospitals and morgues. The count is being carried out amid the chaos of war and displacement, they say.
In its latest report, released Thursday, the Gaza Health Ministry said 40,005 people have been killed in the enclave since the start of the war.
However, the true death toll is likely to be several thousand higher, health officials and civil defense workers warn, as many bodies remain buried under the rubble of buildings destroyed by the airstrikes.
A study published by the British medical journal The Lancet estimates that 186,000 deaths can be attributed to the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip, including indirect causes, such as deaths linked to the health crisis.
Israel’s air and ground offensive in Gaza has been one of the most devastating military campaigns in recent history.
The bombings and shelling have killed entire Palestinian families. With cemeteries often inaccessible, families fleeing the airstrikes bury their dead wherever possible — in courtyards, along roadsides, under the stairs of their homes.
Israel says it wants to eliminate Hamas. The Israeli military accuses it of responsibility for civilian deaths in Gaza, arguing that its fighters operate in civilian areas and have built vast networks of tunnels under them.
Israeli forces have regularly targeted mosques, schools, hospitals and cemeteries where they believe fighters or tunnels are located, often causing civilian casualties.
The fighting also resulted in the deaths of 329 Israeli soldiers. The Israeli military estimates that about 15,000 Hamas fighters are among the casualties in Gaza, but has not provided evidence to support this claim.
Humanitarian crisis and risk of conflagration
Nearly 85 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes, fleeing repeatedly across the territory to escape ground offensives. Thousands of people in Israel and southern Lebanon have also been displaced during the war.
The assault has created a massive humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The entire territory is at high risk of famine, with more than 495,000 people expected to face the most severe levels of hunger in the coming months, according to the latest report from the leading authority on hunger measurement.
Sewerage systems have been destroyed, leaving behind pools of sewage and mountains of waste in tent camps filled with displaced families.
The offensive damaged or destroyed 59 percent of all structures in Gaza as of July 3, including 70 percent of buildings in the northern part of the territory, according to an analysis by Corey Scher and Jamon Van Den Hoek, experts in mapping war damage.
The conflict has raised fears of a wider flare-up of tensions in the Middle East, with Lebanon’s Hezbollah and the Israeli army exchanging fire almost daily.
More than 500 people were killed on the Lebanese side, including 350 Hezbollah members and 50 fighters from other militant groups. In Israel, 22 soldiers and 24 civilians were killed.
With Agence France-Presse