Gaza death toll reaches over 40,000
The death toll of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip reached over 40,000 on August 15th, announced the territory’s Health Ministry, according to AP and agencies.
The 11-month offensive into the coastal enclave has also resulted in 92,401 wounded and over 85% of the population displaced from their homes, the Hamas-run health ministry reported. The numbers reported do not distinguish between civilians and militants.
The announcement comes during ceasefire talks in Qatar as international mediators push to cease all fighting and exchange of hostages. Though Hamas has said that it would not attend talks, representatives of the militant group are present, according to U.S. mediators.
The conflict began on October 7th after Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people – most of which were civilians – and also taking close to 250 hostages to Gaza.
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Calculating an accurate death toll has proved to be a real challenge to health officials in Gaza, who struggled to fully identify the dead. Many bodies stream into hospitals operating over capacity whilst morgues lay full.
The latest detailed report on the dead has found that 40,005 people have been killed. However, health officials and international organisations expect the actual death toll to be thousands higher as many bodies remain trapped under the rubble of buildings destroyed in airstrikes. The Lancet, a British medical journal, estimated that the true death toll could be closer to 186,000.
Israel’s air and ground offensive has been one of the most devastating military campaigns in recent history.
Relentless bombing campaigns have killed entire Palestinian families, with many having to bury their loved ones in backyards or along roadsides, unable to find proper resting places.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly asserted that the government is determined to eliminate Hamas. Israel has blamed the Iranian-backed militant group for operating in civilian areas where they have built extensive tunnel networks underneath. The IDF has regularly targeted places of worship, schools and hospitals where it claims fighters are staying, resulting in high civilian casualties.
The war has resulted in the deaths of 329 Israeli soldiers. 17,000 Hamas fighters are said to be also killed in Gaza, according to the Israeli military, though no evidence has been provided to support such a claim.
Gaza currently faces a massive humanitarian crisis, with the entire territory’s population at high risk of famine and over 495,000 – more than a fifth of the population – expected to experience the most severe level of hunger in the coming months. Poor sanitary conditions as a result of bombed sewage pipelines have exacerbated the crisis with an explosion of communicable diseases.
By July 3rd, around 59% of all buildings in Gaza were either damaged or destroyed with northern Gaza seeing 70% of all its structures hit, according to analysis of satellite date conducted by Corey Scher and Jamon Van Den Hoek.
AP and agencies
