Number of Palestinians killed in Israel-Hamas war passes 60,000, ministry says
The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, said the death toll has climbed to 60,034, with another 145,870 people wounded since the Hamas attack on October 7 2023.
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It did not say how many were civilians or militants, but has said women and children make up around half of the dead.
The ministry is staffed by medical professionals. The United Nations and other independent experts view its figures as the most reliable count of casualties.
An Israeli armoured personnel carrier returns from inside the northern Gaza Strip (Ariel Schalit/AP)
Israel's offensive has destroyed vast areas of Gaza, displaced around 90% of the population and caused a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, with experts warning of famine.
Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the attack that sparked the war, and abducted another 251. They are still holding 50 captives, around 20 believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefires or other deals.
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The war took a major turn in early March when Israel imposed a blockade, barring the entry of all food, medicine, fuel and other goods.
Weeks later, Israel ended a ceasefire with a surprise bombardment and began seizing large areas of Gaza, measures it said were aimed at pressuring Hamas to release more hostages.
At least 8,867 Palestinians have been killed since then.
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The Herald Scotland
12 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
Gaza death toll hits 60,000 amid mass starvation
The alert by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) raised the prospect that the man-made starvation crisis in Gaza could be formally classified as a famine, in the hope that this might raise the pressure on Israel to let in far more food. More: 'Every ounce of food': Trump presses Israel on starvation in Gaza; 'children look very hungry' Starvation, malnutrition, disease With international criticism growing, Israel announced steps over the weekend to ease aid access. But the World Food Program (WFP) said July 29 it was not getting the permissions it needed to deliver enough aid since Israel began humanitarian pauses on Sunday. "Mounting evidence shows that widespread starvation, malnutrition, and disease are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths," the IPC said, adding that "famine thresholds" have been reached for food consumption in most of the Gaza Strip. It said it would quickly carry out the formal analysis that could allow it to classify Gaza as "in famine." More: One meal a day. $20 for an egg. Choosing which kid gets fed. Starvation stalks Gaza For famine to be declared, at least 20% of the population must be suffering extreme food shortages, with one in three children acutely malnourished and two people out of every 10,000 dying daily from starvation or from malnutrition and disease. Gaza health authorities have been reporting more and more people dying from hunger-related causes. The total stands at 147, among them 88 children, most of whom died in the last few weeks. More: Two Israeli rights groups say Israel is committing genocide in Gaza Images of emaciated Palestinian children have shocked the world, with Israel's strongest ally, President Donald Trump, declaring that many people were starving. He promised to set up new "food centers." Israel has denied pursuing a policy of starvation. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Tuesday that the situation in Gaza was "tough" but there were lies about starvation there. Deadliest conflict The death toll of 60,000 announced by Gaza health authorities, whose figures are often cited by the U.N. and have previously described as reliable by the World Health Organization, underlines this as the deadliest war in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The previous deadliest conflict between Israel and the Hamas Islamist group - which seized control of Gaza in 2007 - was in 2014, when 2,100 Palestinians were killed in Gaza, mostly civilians, while Israel lost 67 soldiers and six civilians. Israel launched its latest offensive in response to Hamas' attacks on October 7, 2023, when militants killed some 1,200 people and took another 251 hostage - Israel's deadliest ever day. The new Palestinian toll does not distinguish between fighters and civilians. Thousands more bodies are believed to be buried under rubble, meaning the true toll is likely to be significantly higher, Palestinian officials and rescue workers say. More: USAID analysis found no evidence of massive Hamas theft of Gaza aid Israeli airstrikes overnight killed at least 30 Palestinians in Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, Gaza health authorities said. Doctors at Al-Awda Hospital said at least 14 women and 12 children were among the dead. The hospital also said that 13 people had been killed and dozens wounded by Israeli fire along the Salahudeen Road as they waited for aid trucks to roll into Gaza. A total of 55 Palestinians were killed in attacks overnight, Gaza health authorities said. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Fifty of the hostages seized on October 7 remain in Gaza, of whom 20 are believed to be alive. The latest talks aimed at securing a ceasefire and freeing the hostages collapsed last week. Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel would keep fighting until the hostages were freed and Hamas' military and governing capabilities destroyed. Only half of food aid approved Saar said 5,000 aid trucks had entered Gaza in the last two months, and that Israel would assist those wanting to conduct airdrops - a delivery method that aid groups say is ineffective and tokenistic. Ross Smith, a senior regional programme adviser at the World Food Program, told reporters in Geneva by video: "We're getting approximately 50% of what we're requesting into Gaza since these humanitarian pauses started on Sunday. "We are not going to be able to address the needs of the population unless we can move in the volume that we need." After an 11-week Israeli blockade, limited U.N.-led aid operations resumed on May 19 and a week later the obscure new U.S.-based Gaza Humanitarian Foundation - backed by Israel and the United States - began distributing food aid. The rival efforts have sparked a war of words - pitting Israel, the U.S. and the GHF against the U.N., international aid groups and dozens of governments from around the world. Israel and the U.S. accuse Hamas of stealing aid - which the militants deny - and the U.N. of failing to prevent it. The U.N. says it has not seen evidence of Hamas diverting much aid. Hamas accuses Israel of causing starvation and using aid as a weapon. The IPC said 88% of Gaza was now under evacuation orders or within militarized areas, and was critical of GHF efforts. It said most of the GHF food items "require water and fuel to cook, which are largely unavailable." The IPC's Famine Review Committee said: "Our analysis of the food packages supplied by the GHF shows that their distribution plan would lead to mass starvation." GHF said its aid boxes are based on the same ingredient lists used by other aid groups and meet standards for total calories and nutritional value.
The Herald Scotland
14 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
Marjorie Taylor Greene says there is genocide in Gaza, amid starvation
More: Two Israeli rights groups say Israel is committing genocide in Gaza Hers is an uncommon statement in a caucus that has rallied around Israel since October 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. Israel has strongly rejected claims that the country is perpetuating a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Recently the Israeli military announced it would pause action in certain parts of Gaza for hours each day and increase aid drops in the enclave. Reports of mass starvation have spread since Israel first cut off supplies to the region in March, then reopened aid lines, with new restrictions, in May. More than 125 people have died due to malnutrition, including 85 children, the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said over the weekend. A 5-month-old baby, Zainab Abu Haleeb, died of malnutrition at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza on July 26. In recent weeks, more than 800 people have been killed while trying to reach food, according to the United Nations, mostly in shootings by Israeli soldiers posted near controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution centers. "I can unequivocally say that what happened to innocent people in Israel on Oct 7th was horrific," Greene wrote in an earlier social media post over the weekend. "Just as I can unequivocally say that what has been happening to innocent people and children in Gaza is horrific." "This war and humanitarian crisis must end!" Her post on July 28 calling Israel's attack on Gaza a genocide was part of a direct criticism of her Republican colleague Rep. Randy Fine, who was elected in April to fill the seat vacated by former National Security Adviser Mike Waltz. Fine, a Jewish member of Congress and staunch defender of Israel, has been outspoken on social media, denying the crisis in Gaza in multiple posts and writing in another, "starve away."
Sky News
3 hours ago
- Sky News
A PATTERN OF DEADLY ATTACKS ON GAZA FAMILIES By Ben van der Merwe, Michelle Inez Simon, Kaitlin Tosh and Sophia Massam
This is Ahmed Al-Hatta. He was killed by an Israeli strike on his family home on 18 March. The strike took place at around 3am - when he was with his wife and their six children . All of them were killed. The youngest, twin girls Banan and Janan, were just six years old. Many more families were killed in their homes that night, by far the deadliest since late 2023. By sunrise, the Al-Hattas were among at least 242 people killed. By the end of the day, the total would stand at 465. Since then, over 8,500 people have been killed. That has brought the total number of fatalities during the conflict to over 60,000. Data shared exclusively with Sky News by Gaza's health ministry allows us, for the first time, to show the date of every death since the war began. Click to read how Sky News verified the data. Across almost two years of war, 17 days stand out as the deadliest – those when more than 450 people died. Women and children made up a much higher share of deaths on these days than on others. Looking further into the data, we found out why – a pattern of strikes on family homes. Click to read how Sky identified families in the data Almost half of all people killed on these days (44%) died alongside a family member, compared with less than a third (30%) on other days. Strikes on families reached their peak on 18 March, accounting for almost two-thirds of all deaths. The Israeli military said it was targeting Hamas, but most of those killed were women and children. Mourners pray next to the bodies of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes, at Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in the central Gaza Strip on 18 March. Pic: Reuters/Ramadan Abed In order to understand how those strikes led to so many civilian casualties, Sky News analysed all 465 deaths recorded that day by Gaza's health ministry. Out of 112 strikes verified by Sky News, just 16 killed known or suspected Hamas officials and militants. On average, nine family members were killed alongside them. The 11 deadliest strikes on that day, those which killed 10 or more people, all took place before dawn – when families were most likely to be at home and sleeping. These 11 strikes killed six Hamas militants, along with 207 of their neighbours and family members "It's reasonable to expect when people go home at night they... will be surrounded by family members," says Brian Finucane, who spent a decade advising the US State Department on conflict law. In April 2024, Israeli outlets +972 and Local Call reported, based on conversations with six anonymous Israeli intelligence officers, that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) was routinely targeting suspected militants in their homes at night. The officers reportedly said that this was "because, from what they regarded as an intelligence standpoint, it was easier to locate the individuals in their private houses". "It seems clearly an excessive use of force and not proportional." Dr Craig Jones, a senior lecturer at Newcastle University and an expert in conflict law, has been interviewing survivors of such attacks, which he terms "familicide". He says Israel has previously demonstrated the ability to wait until targets have left their family home before striking. "They're also showing now a capacity to wait, but... [they're now] waiting for the operative to go into a place where civilians are living," he says. "It seems clearly an excessive use of force and not proportional." In response to Sky's findings, an IDF spokesperson said its directives instruct commanders to apply the basic rules of the law of armed conflict, "particularly distinction, proportionality, and precautions". "Exceptional incidents are subject to lessons-learned processes and are thoroughly examined and addressed by the appropriate enforcement mechanisms," they added. "The IDF remains committed to the rule of law and will continue to operate in accordance with [the law of armed conflict]." Hamas did not respond to a request for comment. Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a residential building in Jabalia in northern Gaza on 18 March. Pic: Reuters/Mahmoud Issa How the attacks on 18 March unfolded At around 8pm on the evening of 17 March, Palestinians started to notice flares in the skies over Gaza City. It was two months since a fragile ceasefire had been agreed, and negotiations over a second phase were about to collapse. Shortly after midnight, the bombing began. Using satellite imagery and more than 30 geolocated videos from social media, Sky's Data and Forensics Unit has mapped the violence that unfolded that night. The first airstrike, in North Gaza, was reported at 12.46am. Within minutes, there were reports of explosions across Gaza. Residents captured footage of the strikes as they landed through the night, like this video from Gaza City. Rescue workers immediately began searching the rubble for the dead and wounded. This video was posted at 2.53am. As the sun rose, bombs continued to fall on family homes. That included the home of Abdulqader and Wafa al Salihi, who lived with their one-year-old son Nasser in a block of flats in central Gaza. All three were killed in a strike on their building, along with Wafa's eight-year-old nephew. Sky News found no evidence that either parent had any ties to Hamas. Elsewhere, Palestinians surveyed the damage from the night before. The strike on this house killed Mohammed al Madi and his two adult daughters. One of the deadliest strikes on a family home that night, and among the deadliest of the entire war, happened here in eastern Rafah. The strike, which took place at around 1am, hit the home of the Jarghoun family. Among those killed were 71-year-old Eid Jarghoun and three of his adult children. Two of them were killed alongside their own wives and children. In total, 17 family members were killed, including four women and seven children. The youngest victim, Lian, had celebrated her second birthday just five days earlier. The video below, verified by Sky News, shows their bodies being retrieved from the rubble of the house. The IDF told Sky News that one of those killed, Jihad Jarghoun, ran a weapons manufacturing workshop for Hamas. Sky News could not independently verify this claim. Conflict-monitoring group Airwars, which has compiled reports on over 1,100 Gaza airstrikes, says the IDF frequently assassinates targets at night in their family homes, leading to large-scale civilian casualties. "This is actually the conflict we have documented with more families killed alongside each other than any other conflict we've looked at over the last decade," says Airwars executive director Emily Tripp. View of destruction in North Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the border between Israel and Gaza, 18 March 2025. Pic: Reuters/Amir Cohen As the number of deaths in Gaza passes 60,000, there is still no end to the war in sight. At around 10.30pm on Monday night, a bomb hit the tent of the Agha family, killing the parents, uncle and brother of 11-year old Safa al Agha. On Tuesday morning, Safa mourned over the body of her mother. "We haven't been happy yet," she said. "We were sitting in the living room, then all of sudden..." "Who did you leave us for?" she said. "My dear mama, may God have mercy on you." The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done. CREDITS Data journalism: Ben van der Merwe Reporting: Ben van der Merwe, Kaitlin Tosh, Michelle Inez Simon and Sophia Massam Editors: Chris Howard and Natasha Muktarsingh Production: Michelle Inez Simon, Mary Poynter, Kaitlin Tosh and Reece Denton Shorthand development: Kate Schneider and Kaitlin Tosh Graphics: Taylor Stuart, Annie Adam and Bria Anderson Top Built with Shorthand
