The Hamas-controlled Health Ministry says more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war with Israel began. Officials say the actual toll is likely several thousand higher because many bodies remain buried under the rubble of buildings destroyed in airstrikes.
40,005 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the war began on October 7, 2023, the Hamas-controlled health ministry said on Thursday. The ministry said 92,401 people were injured and 85 percent of the enclave's residents were forced to leave their homes. The chief UN for human rights Volker Turk said the death toll in Gaza, which has surpassed 40,000, was a “grim milestone for the world.”
“This unthinkable situation is largely due to the repeated failure of the Israeli military to adhere to the rules of war,” he said in a statement on Thursday.
In the data it presents, the Ministry does not distinguish between civilians and Hamas fighters among the victims.
Thousands of victims under the rubble
Gaza health and civil defense officials say the actual death toll is likely several thousand higher, as many bodies remain buried in the rubble of buildings destroyed in airstrikes. Authorities are also struggling to identify the dead as bodies are taken to overcrowded hospitals and morgues.
As the media emphasize, the statement of the Ministry of Health was published during the ongoing Qatar international mediation aimed at a ceasefire in the 11-month-old war.
Gaza StripHAITHAM IMAD/PAP/EPA
High risk of starvation
According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), the leading international body examining the scale of the hunger crisis, the entire territory of the Gaza Strip is at high risk of famine.
According to the latest report, some 495,000 people, or more than a fifth of the population, are likely to experience the most severe levels of hunger in the coming months.
The AP reported that as of July 3, the Israeli offensive had likely damaged or destroyed 59 percent of all buildings in the Gaza Strip, including 70 percent of buildings in the northern part of the Strip, according to an analysis of satellite data by Corey Scher and Jamon Van Den Hoek, experts in mapping damage in war-affected areas.
Hamas attack, Israel's response
The ongoing conflict began on October 7, after Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages to the Gaza Strip.
Israel said 111 captives have not been released, including the bodies of 39 people who have not been returned. The hostages include 15 women and two children under the age of 5.
An estimated 329 Israeli soldiers were also killed in the fighting. The Israeli military says about 15,000 Hamas fighters are among those killed in Gaza, but has not provided evidence.
During the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, more than 500 people have been killed on the Lebanese side, including some 350 members of Hezbollah and 50 fighters from other groups. The rest of the victims were civilians. In Israel itself, 22 soldiers and 24 civilians were killed.
Main image source: HAITHAM IMAD/PAP/EPA