The death toll in Gaza passed a grim milestone on Thursday, as the local health ministry said more than 30,000 people had been killed in the war since October 7.
The death toll since Israel began its military offensive against Hamas in Gaza had already surpassed the toll of any previous Arab conflict with Israel, when it topped 20,000 in December. Many experts say the official toll is highly likely to be tallied, given the difficulty of accurately counting the dead amid relentless fighting, communications disruptions, a collapsing medical system and people believed to still be under the rubble.
However, the reported figure is staggering – about one person is killed for every 73 Palestinians in Gaza, whose population is about 2.2 million.
Figures provided by the Gaza health ministry do not distinguish between civilians and fighters. Many international observers said they believe the ministry’s overall tally is credible, while the proportion of Hamas-linked fighters among the dead remains unclear.
An article published in November in the British medical journal The Lancet said an analysis of the first weeks of death reports by the health ministry “suggested reasonable data quality” and that the deaths were “among population groups in Gaza that are likely to be largely grade civilians.
Israel is under increasing international pressure to halt its offensive, and even President Biden, its staunchest ally, has expressed growing frustration at the mounting death toll and worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza. But Israeli leaders have insisted they will continue to fight to root out Hamas, the armed group that led the Oct. 7 attack on Israel in which officials say at least 1,200 people were killed and another 240 taken hostage, sparking the war.
Mediators from the US, Egypt and Qatar are working to broker a ceasefire and the release of hostages, but prospects remain unclear.
On Wednesday, Hamas’ political leader said in a televised address that while the group was open to a deal with Israel, it was also ready to continue fighting. He called on Palestinians to march on the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem in March, raising the prospect of fresh clashes with Israeli security forces over a site holy to both Muslims and Jews.
In addition to the risk of being killed in strikes or fighting, Palestinians live with the growing specter of hunger and disease.
The health ministry said the infants had died of dehydration and malnutrition in recent days. A doctor who was in Gaza in late January told CBS’s “60 Minutes” this week that people were dying “in a completely treatable condition” because of the lack of basic medical supplies.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, said Thursday in a social media post marking it 30,000 deaths of which most of those killed in Gaza were women and children.
“This horrific violence and suffering must end,” he wrote. “Ceasefire”.
