Gaza death toll could be 40% higher than recorded, study finds

A study by The Lancet medical journal which was published on its website on January 9th, estimates that the death toll in Gaza in the first nine months of the war between Israel and Hamas was around 40% higher than what the Palestinian territory’s health ministry had recorded.

The number of people dead in Gaza has been a contentious subject since Israel started its military campaign against Hamas in retaliation to Hamas’ attack of October 7th 2023, Al-Monitor via AFP reported.

Up to June 30th 2024, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said that the death toll was 37,877 in the war.

But through gathering data from the ministry and using an online survey as well as social media obituaries, the journal’s new research, estimates that there were between 55,298 and 78,525 deaths caused by traumatic injuries in Gaza by that date.

Al-Monitor via AFP