ExplainerIsrael-Gaza war: 2 months on, how many Palestinians have died?
- Gaza health officials say more than 16,000 people have been killed in the wake of the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel
- A senior Israeli official on Monday said that two civilians have been killed for every dead Hamas fighter in the Gaza Strip
Israeli forces unleashed an aerial and ground blitz against Hamas in Gaza after a cross-border rampage by the enclave’s ruling Islamist group on October 7.
At least 16,015 Palestinians have been killed since then, according to Gaza Health Ministry figures, while 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’ incursion into Israel, according to Israeli tallies.
Aid agencies warn that a humanitarian disaster in Gaza is worsening by the hour with most of its 2.3 million people homeless and trapped in a tiny, embattled coastal enclave, with little food, water, medical care, fuel or secure shelter.
With basic infrastructure devastated, phone and internet services frequently disrupted, and a number of health statisticians having been killed or gone missing, there is increasing concern that Gaza health authorities will be unable to continue keeping an accurate count of the casualty toll.
How have casualty tolls been compiled so far?
In the first six weeks of the war, hospital morgues across Gaza sent figures to the health ministry’s main collection centre at al-Shifa Hospital.