As of 24 April 2024, over 35,000 people (34,262 Palestinian[1] and 1,410 Israeli[9]) have been reported as killed in the
Israel–Hamas war, including 97 journalists (92 Palestinian, 2 Israeli and 3 Lebanese)[10] and over 224 humanitarian aid workers, including 179 employees of
UNRWA.[11]
The vast majority of casualties have been in the
Gaza Strip: over 34,262 have been killed, 70% of them are women and minors.[12] The accuracy of these figures, as well as the number of women and minors killed, is disputed.[13][14][15][16] In December 2023,
Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor estimated 90% of the casualties were civilians,[17][18] while the IDF put the civilian ratio at 66% of those killed.[19] The death toll comes from the
Gaza Health Ministry and the total death toll in Gaza is presumed to be higher than reported,[20][21] with thousands remaining unaccounted for, including those trapped under rubble.[12][22]
A further 469 Palestinians (including 94 children[25]) have been killed in the
West Bank and
East Jerusalem by the Israel military and
settlers.[1] Casualties have also occurred in other parts of Israel, as well as in southern
Lebanon, and
Syria.[26]
Breakdown of deaths by age and gender (analysis by professors Michael Spagat and Daniel Silverman), November 2023[27]
Men and boys over 14 (35.3%)
Women and girls over 14 (24.1%)
Children under 15 (33.8%)
Elderly, above 60 (6.8%)
The Gaza Strip suffered massive civilian casualties from
Israeli bombardment.[28][29] As of 29 February, the
Gaza Health Ministry reports that at least 30,000 Palestinians[30] (including over 10,000 minors) have been killed, over 70,000 injured,[31][32] and 10,000 are missing under rubble,[30] totaling over 110,000 casualties since the war began, which is about 5% of Gaza's 2.3 million population. As a result, this became the bloodiest war ever fought during the
Arab-Israeli conflict, eclipsing the combined death toll of the
First Intifada,
Second Intifada,
Operation Cast Lead, and
Operation Protective Edge.[33][34] The high number of casualties is due to Israeli tactics and large-scale bombing, which in some cases has left entire towns completely destroyed and uninhabitable.[35][36]
On 3 November, at least 10 cemetery workers were killed by an Israeli airstrike while working at a graveyard in
Beit Lahia.[37] On 4 November, an unnamed Israeli official claimed that around 20,000 people had been killed in Gaza, "most of them terrorists."[38] On 14 November, two volleyball players Hassan Zuaiter and
Ibrahim Qusaya were killed in an
Israeli airstrike on Jabalia refugee camp.[39] As of 1 December, 102
UNRWA employees in Gaza had been killed in Israeli airstrikes.[40] On 29 December, UNRWA reported 308 people had been killed in UNRWA shelters.[41]Euro-Med Monitor reported the IDF was taking and holding Palestinian bodies from Gaza, calling for an international investigation on
organ theft suspicions.[42] The Monitor further stated that Israel had systematically killed hundreds of tech specialists, including "programmers, information technology experts, and computer engineering analysts".[43] In March 2024,
al-Jazeera's news blog reported that Israeli forces conducted a pattern of killing entire families by targeting the homes they were sheltering in.[44]
The casualties and damages of the conflict in Gaza up to the 175th day are outlined as follows:
Women and children make up 73% of the total victims of the war.
There have been 14,350 child casualties.
Additionally, 9,460 women have lost their lives.[46]
On 25 October, Qatar's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister
Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani noted the death toll of children in Gaza had already exceeded the total number killed in the
Russian invasion of Ukraine.[47] The total civilian death toll would surpass Ukraine's total of 9,614, as of 10 September 2023,[48] including around 600 children,[49] some days later, but in a fraction of Ukraine's war duration. In a statement,
UNICEF regional director Adele Khodr stated Gaza's child death toll was a "growing stain on our collective conscience".[50] On October 28, the number of families who had been killed entirely had risen to 825.[51] On 30 October,
Save the Children reported more children had died in three weeks in Gaza than in the entire sum of conflicts around the world in the past four years.[52] UNRWA Commissioner-General
Philippe Lazzarini briefed the UN Security Council, sharing Save the Children's analysis.[53] The death of
Hind Rajab drew significant media coverage following the release of her emergency call and her subsequent disappearance for twelve days.[54] On 29 February 2024, Gaza's Ministry of Health reported that 44% (i.e. over 13,000) of the fatalities were children.[55]
Civilian to military ratio
The Gaza Ministry of Health casualty numbers do not provide the proportion of casualties who are civilian; as a result, varying estimates have been given by analysts. A study by the
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in The Lancet covering the period 7–26 October estimated 68.1% of casualties were children, women or elders and therefore likely non-combatants,[56] while an analysis published in December in
Ha'aretz by Israeli sociologist Yagil Levy estimated at least 61% of the casualties were in this category.[57][58] Both studies were based on figures from Gaza's Ministry of Health. Considering only women, children and elderly as civilians (i.e. classifying all adult men as combatants) gives a conservative figure for civilians, although the true proportion of civilians is likely higher.[59] In early December,
Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor estimated that 90% of the casualties were civilians.[17][60] In December, Israel's military said it estimated 66% of those killed to be civilians.[19]
Even the conservative figure of 61 percent is higher than the average civilian death rate in all world conflicts "from the Second World War to the 1990s."[61] The number of casualties is higher than in any conflict in Gaza's recent history, with
Neta Crawford of the
Costs of War Project at
Brown University stating, "This is, in the 21st century, a significant and out-of-the-norm level of destruction".[62] On 31 December, Al Jazeera stated 2023 was the deadliest year for Palestinians since the 1948
Nakba.[63]
Israel has claimed to have killed a number of Hamas militants but these numbers have been challenged. In early December 2023, an Israeli official claimed Israel had killed 5,000 militants,[64][19] but provided no evidence to support the claim.[65] On December 29, IDF said it had killed 8,000 Hamas fighters.[66][55] But on December 30, 2023
Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor estimated 2,353 militant deaths (based 30,034 total and 27,681 civilian deaths).[67] On 19 February 2024, one Hamas official told Reuters 6,000 of its militants had been killed,[68] but a second Hamas official denied this figure in an interview with BBC.[55] Hamas also put out an official statement denying the 6,000 figure.[69] Also on 19 February, the IDF claimed it had killed 12,000 militants upto that point.[70] The IDF did not confirm that number to the BBC but in two separate responses said the figure is "approximately 10,000" and "more than 10,000", with the Israeli embassy in London giving a similar figure.[55] On 7 April, the IDF said that more than 13,000 operative of Hamas and its allies had been killed by Israel in Gaza in the fighting (although an IDF press release gave 12,000+), in addition to the 1,000 killed on 7 October. The IDF said these deaths included five Hamas brigade commanders or equivalent, 20 battalion commanders, and over 100 company commanders or equivalent.[71][72][73]
BBC Verify repeatedly asked IDF for its methodology on counting militant deaths, but the IDF never responded.[55] BBC Verify attempted to count militant deaths by compiling all announcements of militant deaths on IDF's official telegram channel; it found the IDF had made 160 such announcements, summing up to 714 total militant deaths in the Gaza Strip (as of 29 February).[78][55] BBC Verify also viewed all 280 videos posted on IDF's
Youtube channel of Gaza operations, and found that only one of those videos actually showed dead bodies of Palestinian militants.[78]
An analysis in
Al-Jazeera pointed out that IDF's own numbers imply 62 Hamas fighters killed for every Israeli soldier killed in Gaza operations. Even if only half the militants were killed in combat, a constant
loss exchange ratio of 31:1 over many months would be so
demoralizing that Hamas fighters would rout – yet as Hamas continues to fight, it losses must be smaller than claimed.[79]
Impacts
On 13 October, the Palestinian Ministry of Health noted 20
surnames had been removed from Gaza's
civil registry, meaning every single person in that entire family had been killed.[80] The Financial Times reported that the loss of large family groups was "tearing holes in Gaza's social fabric."[81]The New York Times stated, "Family trees have been dismembered, and whole branches obliterated."[82]
On 16 October, UNRWA stated there were so many deaths in Gaza that there were no longer enough
body bags.[83] Because the morgues were so overcrowded, bodies were contained in
ice cream trucks.[84][85] On 11 November, Monir al-Bashr, the director of the health ministry in Gaza, stated graves were being dug by hand.[86] On 12 November,
Mai al-Kaila noted staff at Al-Shifa were unable to bury 100 decomposing bodies.[87] On 14 November, the
Palestinian Red Crescent noted it was unable to rescue the wounded and injured beneath the rubble, noting, "Those injured are left there in agony to suffer and die with no response to their calls of help."[88]
At the end of January 2024 BBC reported that based on a recent report from the
Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor more then 24,000 children have lost one or both parents due to the war. The United Nations agency
UNICEF have estimated that there are about 19,000 orphaned or unaccompanied children in Gaza, with some being dug out of rubble or found throughout the strip.[89]
Airstrikes have destroyed food infrastructure, such as bakeries, mills, and food stores, and there is a widespread scarcity of essential supplies due to the blockade of
aid.[c] This has caused starvation for more than half a million Gazans and is part of a broader
humanitarian crisis in the Strip. It is the “highest number of people facing catastrophic hunger” ever recorded on the
IPC scale,[98] and is widely expected to be the most intense man-made famine since the
Second World War.[99][100][101]
The leader of the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) expressed that the residents of Gaza are perishing due to starvation. The alarming pace at which this crisis of hunger and malnutrition, caused by humans, is spreading in Gaza is deeply concerning. Half of Gaza's entire population is currently facing catastrophic conditions and is on the brink of famine, a situation that has never been seen before. The World Food Program reports that approximately 1.1 million individuals in Gaza are grappling with severe hunger.[102]
Death toll
On 25 October, US President
Joe Biden stated he had "no confidence" in the death totals reported by the Gaza Health Ministry.[103][104][105] In response,
Human Rights Watch stated that after three decades working in Gaza and conducting its own investigation, it considers Gaza Health Ministry's totals to be reliable.[104]Matthew Miller made a similar claim to Biden, despite the fact that the
US Department of State cites the Gaza Health Ministry's death tolls in its own internal reports.[106] On 26 October, the Gaza Health Ministry responded by releasing a 212-page document of 6,747 individual names and
ID numbers, as well as 281 unidentified fatalities.[107] The US State Department Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs told a Congressional hearing on 9 November that the death toll was "very high, frankly, and it could be that they're even higher than are being cited."[108] (The Gaza Health Ministry numbers do not distinguish deaths among combatants and noncombatants, nor do they take into account cause of death, as explained above; i.e., the number is a simple tally of total Gazan deaths since 7 October 2023.)
Every death registered in Gaza is the result of a verified change in the
population registry approved by the
Government of Israel.[109] The Israeli government notes that its "Population Registry Office works to update population registry files located on the Israeli side to match the files that are held" in the West Bank and Gaza.[110] On 26 October, the
United Nations humanitarian office added they use the Gaza Ministry of Health's death totals because they are "clearly sourced"[111] and their estimates have been described as trustworthy by the
World Health Organization's (WHO) regional emergency director Richard Brennan.[55] On 6 December, a peer-reviewed article by
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health scholars in The Lancet concluded the Gaza Ministry of Health's death tolls were accurate.[112]
Around mid-November, the Gaza Health Ministry had begun to lose count of deaths stating that it struggled to update casualty tolls as a result of blackouts, high death tolls, and the collapse of the healthcare system.[113][114] In February 2024, a joint study by the
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the Johns Hopkins Center for Humanitarian Health at
Johns Hopkins University found the war continuing at status quo would result in between 58,260 and 74,290 excess deaths by 6 August.[115] In March 2024, the Gaza Health Ministry requested that civilians register their dead online, as the
healthcare system collapse had resulted in the ministry being unable to maintain a regularly updated death toll.[116]
As of February 29th, the Gaza Health Ministry stated that its daily tallies now rely upon "a combination of accurate death counts from hospitals that are still partially operating, and on estimates from media reports to assess deaths in the north of Gaza", but did not "cite or say which sources those are."[117] On March 31st, it stated that 15,070 fatalities (45.8% of the then total) had been compiled via "reliable media sources" instead of direct reporting.[118][119] The Ministry further clarified in reports made on April 1st and April 4th that it had “incomplete data” for 12,263 (later reduced 11,371) of its 33,091 reported fatalities.[120][121]
Numerous Palestinian journalists in Gaza were killed by Israeli attacks while in the line of duty. Ibrahim Mohammad Lafi, a photographer for Ain Media, was fatally shot during the attack on the Erez crossing on 7 October, while Mohammad Jarghoun, a reporter with Smart Media, was killed east of Rafah on the same day. Freelance journalist Mohammad el-Salhi was also shot dead on the border east of
Bureij refugee camp on 7 October. On 9 October, Saeed al-Taweel, editor-in-chief of Al-Khamsa News website, Mohammed Subh and Hisham Alnwajha were killed by an airstrike while filming an anticipated attack in
Gaza City.
On 10 October, two additional journalists were reported missing, and another was injured by shrapnel. The homes of two journalists were destroyed by shelling, and the offices of four media outlets were destroyed by airstrikes.[122] On 22 October, Rushdi Sarraj was killed by an Israeli airstrike on his home.[123] On 24 October, reporter
Wael Al-Dahdouh lost his entire family due to an Israeli airstrike.[124] On 27 October, the IDF told
Reuters and
Agence France Presse it would not guarantee their journalists' safety in Gaza.[125] On 30 October, Al Jazeera correspondent Youmna El-Sayed received a threat from Israeli forces, leading the spokesperson for the UN-Secretary General to remark on the "immense courage" of journalists in Gaza.[126] On 2 November, Mohammed Abu Hatab and 10 members of his family were killed by an Israeli airstrike.[127]
On 19 October, the Committee to Protect Journalists stated 21 journalists were confirmed dead, eight were injured, and three were missing or detained.[128] A 29 October report by
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said that Israel had targeted journalists who were clearly identifiable as press, in two 13 October missile strikes that killed a reporter and injured four.[129] On 31 October, RSF said that 34 journalists had been killed to date in the conflict, including 12 "in connection with their work", ten of whom were killed in Israel's attack on Gaza; they described the first two weeks of the conflict as the deadliest start of a war of the 21st century for journalists.[130] On 7 November, an Israeli airstrike killed journalist Mohammad Abu Hasira and 42 of his family members.[131] On 23 November, photojournalist Mohammad Moin Ayyash and his family were killed by an Israeli airstrike.[132]
Investigations
On 1 November, Reporters Without Borders asked the
International Criminal Court to begin a priority war crimes investigation into the killing of nine journalists.[133] RSF noted 41 journalists had been killed during the first month of the conflict, stating multiple journalists had been killed by Israel in their homes.[134] Israel maintains records of the place and residence of every person in Gaza.[135] RSF stated Israel had used targeted strikes to kill journalists in Gaza.[136]
On 11 October, UNRWA reported that nine of their workers were killed in an Israeli airstrike, and that its headquarters were being targeted by Israel.[137] 11 members of UNRWA and five members of the
Red Cross and Red Crescent were killed in Gaza since the start of the fighting.[138] MSF said it had counted 16 medical personnel killed since 7 October.[139] MSF said a nurse and an ambulance driver were killed, and several others injured in Israeli strikes on the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis and the
Indonesia Hospital in Gaza City. The Indonesian Medical Emergency Rescue Committee (MER-C) confirmed a staff member was killed near an operational MER-C vehicle.[140][141][142][143][144]
On 22 October, UNRWA stated that 29 staff members had been killed in Gaza.[145] On 30 October, the Palestinian Ministry of Health stated 120 medical staff had been killed in Gaza.[146] On 10 November, the UN reported more than 100 employees had been killed by Israel.[147] On 11 November, UNRWA rejected Israel's claims that UN workers were undercover Hamas agents.[148] On 12 November, the UN noted three nurses at al-Shifa hospital were killed during the
Siege of Gaza City.[149] More UN workers were killed in Gaza than in any other conflict in world history.[150] According to The Healthcare Workers Watch – Palestine, more than 400 healthcare workers have been killed in Gaza.[151]
Doctors Without Borders stated in a social media post on 22 December that a Palestinian doctor who had written, "“We did what we could. Remember us", had been killed in an airstrike.[152] On 24 December, a
UNDP worker was killed in an airstrike along with 70 members of his family.[153]
Israel's total casualty count is 1,410 killed. Of these, 1,139 were killed in the October 7 attacks.[citation needed]
On 1 December, around 1,332[154] Israelis had been killed since 7 October (inclusive),[155] including 395 IDF soldiers, 10
Shin Bet agents and 59 police officers,[156] and at least 1,271 have been wounded.[157]
The latest figure on the number of deaths in the October 7 attacks is 1,139: 695 Israeli civilians, 71 foreign nationals, and 373
security forces.[160] This data was published in December 2023, using social security data. There are additionally five people classed as missing, including four Israelis.[160] The deaths included 36 children, of whom 20 were under 15 years old and the youngest was a 10-month-old baby.[160]
Initially, Israel had reported 1,400 deaths from the attacks, but on November 10 it revised its casualty count to 1,200 after realizing that bodies that were so badly burnt[161] were not Israeli but rather those of Hamas fighters.[162][163] This included 859 civilians,[164] 283 soldiers,[165][166] 57 policemen,[167] and 10 Shin Bet members.[168]
The casualties include approximately 70 dead or missing
Arab-Israeli citizens, many of whom are
Negev Bedouin.[169][170][171] 14 Israeli children under 10 and 36 adolescents aged between 10 and 19 were initially believed to have been killed in the 7 October attack.[172]
On 7 October, there were massacres at more than nine
kibbutzim where civilians resided and at an outdoor dance music festival. Over 260 attendees were killed at the
psychedelic trance open-air
"Supernova Sukkot Gathering" music festival near the
Re'im kibbutz. It became the deadliest concert attack ever and the worst Israeli civilian massacre in its history.[173] Over 100 civilians were killed in the
Be'eri massacre, including children. Many of the kibbutz residents among the dead or missing were peace activists,[174] such as the 74-year-old
Vivian Silver, a former board member of the human rights organisation
B'Tselem.[175] At least 50–100 people have been reported killed in the
Kfar Aza massacre, with the total death toll unknown.[176] Filmmaker
Yahav Winner was killed in Kfar Aza. Many civilians were also killed in the
Nahal Oz massacre. Nine people were fatally shot at a bus shelter in Sderot,[177] and at least fourteen were killed by gunfire and grenades at a roadside bomb shelter near Re'im.[178] At least four people were reported killed in
Kuseife.[142] At least 400 casualties were reported in Ashkelon,[179][180] while 280 others were reported in Beer Sheva, 60 of whom were in serious condition.[177] In the north, injuries from rocket attacks were reported in Tel Aviv.[181]
At least 50 migrant workers, primarily from Thailand and Nepal, were killed during Hamas' attack on 7 October and around 100,000 migrant workers are trapped in Israel during the conflict due to debt from large fees they had to pay to recruitment agencies to obtain the jobs.[192]
West Bank
OCHA reported that Israel killed 370 Palestinians in the West Bank between October 7, 2023 and January 29, 2024, including 94 children.[25] 97% of these were killed by
Israeli security forces and the remainder by Israeli settlers.[25]
Several thousand Gazan workers were in Israel at the time when the conflict started. As of 16 October some of them were detained at a "holding facility" in the West Bank while others sought refuge in the Palestinian communities of the West Bank.[193] The Minister of Labor for the Palestinian Authority estimated 4,500 workers are unaccounted for while Israeli media outlet N12 reported 4,000 Gazans were in Israeli holding facilities. The Palestinian Prisoners Society said that Israeli forces had
arrested over 1,450 West Bank Palestinians since 7 October.[194] On 29 October, thirty Israeli human rights organizations addressed
settler violence in the West Bank, asking the international community to "act urgently" to end it.[195] On 30 October, the German government called on Israel to protect Palestinians in the West Bank.[196] On 31 October, EU chief diplomat
Josep Borrell "firmly condemned" settler attacks in the West Bank.[197]Linda Thomas-Greenfield stated the United States was "deeply concerned," and condemned the killings of Palestinians in the West Bank.[198]
Lebanon
During clashes along the Israel–Lebanon border, an Israeli artillery strike on 13 October killed Reuters videographer
Issam Abdallah and injured six other journalists from Reuters,
Agence France-Presse and
Al Jazeera.[199]
These clashes are still ongoing, and as of 1 December, they have resulted in 105 deaths, including 17 civilians and 85 militants.[citation needed]
By early April, the IDF said it had killed more than 330 "terror operatives" in Lebanon, mostly members of Hezbollah, including 30 Hezbollah commanders.[71]
Foreign and dual-national casualties
Foreign casualties include both those killed by Palestinian militants inside Israel, as well as those killed by the IDF inside Gaza and the West Bank.
As of 21 January 2024, the The Washington Post reported that persons from 24 countries had been killed or went missing during the conflict.[200]
The Nepali ambassador to Israel, Kanta Rijal, said at least seven of its nationals in the country were injured in the attack, and that they along with ten others were held captive by Hamas at Kibbutz
Alumim.[215] The Nepalese embassy later confirmed that 10 Nepalese students were killed during the attack in the kibbutz.[260] Israeli media also reported that migrant workers from
Thailand and the
Philippines were also taken captive by Palestinian militants.[177] The Philippine government confirmed that four Filipinos were killed[226] while two others were injured in the attacks, with authorities verifying reports of Filipinos being held captive by Hamas. 26 Filipinos were rescued by Israeli security forces,[261][262][263] while two Filipinos were unaccounted for.[226] At least 28 Thais were killed and 17 were captured by Hamas at Kibbutz Alumim. The reason for Hamas attacking the foreign workers' living quarters was because security guards successfully defended the main kibbutz residential area from invasion so they attacked softer targets. There were no guards stationed at the mostly Asian-inhabited living quarters.[264][265]
A German-Israeli national,
Shani Louk, was killed while attending the Re'im music festival; a video of Palestinians parading her near-naked body in a car was circulated on the internet.[266][267][244][268] Several other German citizens were reported to be among those kidnapped by militants.[260] At least 17 British citizens were reported as dead or missing,[269] including one attendee of the music festival.[270][271] 18 Ukrainians,[209] a Cambodian student,[242] and a Chilean woman were confirmed to have been killed by Hamas.[272][273] 13 French citizens were killed, with an additional 17 missing, including four children.[274]
At least 31 Americans were killed during the attacks and 13 others were missing.[202]Mexico's Secretary of Foreign Affairs reported that two Mexican nationals were presumed to have been taken hostage by Hamas. One Brazilian national was reported as injured and three were reported missing.[275][276] An Indian caregiver was injured by a rocket barrage in Ashkelon.[277][267] The British embassy confirmed the death of a British national who attended the music festival.[278]
Spanish foreign minister
José Manuel Albares said two Spaniards were attacked without specifying their condition.[279] Italian Foreign Minister
Antonio Tajani stated that an Italian-Israeli couple went missing in
Be'eri.[280] Two Tanzanian students were reported by their embassy to be missing.[281] The Russian Embassy stated that 16 Russian nationals were killed and nine others went missing following the attack.[282] Four Argentinians were reported to have been killed and three were reported missing.[283]
The Canadian government stated that three Canadians were killed, and that two other Canadians were missing. A Paraguayan couple was reported killed, with the government also reporting two nationals missing. An Irish attendee of the music festival was reported missing.[275] The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Peru confirmed that a Peruvian-Israeli soldier was killed in action on the front line, while three remained missing. A Colombian couple attending the music festival was reported missing after the attack.[235] The
Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that three Austrian-Israeli dual nationals had been captured, and that one of them had later been confirmed dead.[228] South Africa's
Department of International Relations and Cooperation confirmed that two citizens, including a dual national, were killed.[237]
In Gaza, a Ukrainian national was confirmed to have been killed.[209]
248 people were
taken hostage during the Israeli attacks, mostly civilians.[284][285][286] On 8 October,
Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed to be holding at least 30 captives.[287] At least four people were reported taken from Kfar Aza.[288] Videos from Gaza appeared to show captured people, with Gazan residents cheering trucks carrying dead bodies.[289] Israel reported four captives were killed in Be'eri,[290] while Hamas indicated that an IDF airstrike on Gaza on 9 October killed four captives.[291]
Civilians believed to be held captive in Gaza include families, children, festival-goers, peace activists, caregivers, and elders such as 75-year-old historian Alex Dancyg, who has written books on
Poland's Jewish community and the
Holocaust, was taken from
Nir Oz.[286] Also at Nir Oz, six members of the
Silberman-Bibas family were caught on video being taken from their home;[292][293] on 11 October, Hamas released a video showing three of them being let go near the border fence.[294] On 16 October, Hamas released a video of one of its hostages, a 21-year-old French Israeli woman who had sustained injuries to her arm and a scar.[295] On 20 October, Hamas released an American woman and her 17-year-old daughter who were taken while visiting relatives in Nahal Oz.[296][297]
According to a report sent to the
International Committee of the Red Cross by the
Geneva-based organization Hostage and Missing Families Forum, hostages include people with
Parkinson's disease,
multiple sclerosis,
cardiovascular disease,
diabetes, cancer,
dementia,
autism and
psychiatric disorders, who are "in urgent need of treatment and lifesaving medication", and are "prone to immediate mortality [without] essential medications and treatment." The report also expressed concern about untreated injuries induced during the attack.[298][299]
An open letter published in The Lancet by a group of 1,500 Israeli health-care professionals expressed shock at "the greatest loss of civilian life since the establishment of the state of Israel", and the indiscriminate "barbaric rampage" through "entire villages in the south of Israel", which it termed a "
crime against humanity". The letter called on the international medical community to "condemn the savage massacre, to immediately call for guarantees for the safety and health of all those being kept hostage, and to unequivocally call for the immediate and unconditional return of our families and friends who have been cruelly taken hostage".[300]
American-Israeli author Robby Berman set up a fund offering a reward of 1 million
Israeli shekels for the release of hostages in Gaza, specifically aimed at encouraging Palestinians to aid in the rescue of Jewish prisoners.[301]
Thousands of Palestinians working in Israel on the eve of the war have gone missing. Human rights groups believe they have subjected to
mass arrests by Israel, but Israel has refused to release the names of those whom they are holding.[302] According to testimonies obtained by
HaMoked and Al-Jazeera some of these prisoners have been beaten by Israeli soldiers and denied access to contact the Red Cross.[302] Eight of the workers were interviewed by
CNN made claims of torture, including being stripped naked, "viciously" beaten, including one account of electrocution. One prisoner reported; “They broke us and beat us with batons and metal sticks… they humiliated us… they have made us starve without food or water,” whilst another claimed "some people died on the way here because they were beaten and subjected to electric shocks." The interviewed workers were eventually returned to Gaza on 4 November. At least six human rights organizations in Israel have filed a petition to Israel's High Court arguing these detentions were "without legal authority and without legal grounds." Amani Sarahneh of Palestinian Prisoners Society and Dror Sadot of
B’Tselem both described the issue as systemic, with Sadot stating in response; “We’ve been investigating this for so many years – the military enforcement system works as a whitewash mechanism with almost no indictments,” she said. “So they will say ‘those are the exception, not the rule,’ but if the impunity for soldiers continues – and not just the soldiers but also the policy itself – when no one’s being held accountable, of course, things will just continue,”[303]
Reactions and analysis
Due to the large percentage of
children and civilians killed in Gaza, Israel was accused of committing
war crimes.[304][by whom?] Hamas was also accused of committing war crimes during its 7 October attack on Israel.[305] South Africa accused Israel of committing
genocide in a case it brought before the
International Court of Justice.[306] In a set of preliminary rulings, the court found that Israel is "plausibly" committing genocide in Gaza.[307]Marwan Bishara, the senior political analyst at
Al Jazeera English, argued that Israel's military campaign aimed to "eliminate anything that walks or breathes in Gaza".[308]
^According to
CNN, the true number of people dead from starvation may already be higher, as "limited access to northern Gaza has hindered the ability of aid agencies to fully assess the situation there."[91]
^The Israeli NGO
Btselem has stated the famine is a direct outcome of Israeli policy: "This reality is not a byproduct of war, but a direct result of Israel's declared policy. Residents now depend entirely on food supplies from outside Gaza, as they can no longer produce almost any food themselves. Most cultivated fields have been destroyed, and accessing open areas during the war is dangerous in any case. Bakeries, factories and food warehouses have been bombed or shut down due to lack of basic supplies, fuel and electricity."[97]
^"Of the total of 1,004 victims whose gender is identified, 735 (73.4%) of these were male, and 278 (26.6%) female."[158]
^"But the Walla news site has published data by age and gender for 756 of the murdered civilians for which information is available...two girls...11 female...162 women...59 women...69 women...seven women."[159]
That totals 272 female killed out of 756 total civilians dead.
^"Civilians has 217 male and 153 female killed.[158]
^"Military has 298 male and 38 female killed.[158]
^"Police and rescue" has 22 male and 4 female killed.[158]
^Fabian, Emanuel.
"Authorities name 347 soldiers, 58 police officers killed in Gaza war". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 5 November 2023. Six soldiers have also been killed in attacks claimed by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Hezbollah terror group on the border with Lebanon since the fighting started. One soldier was killed in a West Bank terror attack. The military's list also includes a soldier killed by friendly fire in the West Bank, a soldier killed due to malfunctioning ammunition on the Lebanon border, and two soldiers killed in a tank accident in northern Israel.
^"Ukraine: civilian casualty update 11 September 2023". OHCHR. 11 September 2023. Retrieved 27 October 2023. From 24 February 2022, which marked the start of the large-scale armed attack by the Russian Federation, to 10 September 2023, OHCHR recorded 27,149 civilian casualties in the country: 9,614 killed and 17,535 injured.
^"Israeli campaign in Gaza meets genocide definition, says UN official".
The National (Abu Dhabi). "Israel failed to prove that the remaining 30 percent, ie adult males, were active Hamas combatants – a necessary condition for them to be lawfully targeted," the report read. Israel assigned all adult men "active fighter status by default" in December last year when it said it had killed more than 7,000 "terrorists", although men comprised less than 5,000 of the casualties at the time.
^Marc Lynch and Sarah Parkinson.
"A closer look at the Gaza casualty data".
Good Authority. "The Israel Defense Forces claims a 2:1 kill ratio...it's a very specific political choice to label all Palestinian men between 18 and 59 "military-age men" (as Israeli spokesperson Eylon Levy, among others, has done). This equates the constructed category of "potential combatants" with viable targets, and functionally assumes Palestinian men's culpability based on demographics alone.
^Jean-Pierre Filiu (18 December 2023).
"Destroying Hamas, or destroying Gaza?". Le Monde.fr. As for the figure of 7,000 Hamas fighters that Israel claims to have killed, this seems highly overstated. This number reflects the scale of all adult males killed since the start of an offensive in which 70% of victims have been women and children.
^Dobkin, Rachel (25 October 2023).
"Biden Accuses Palestinians of Lying About Civilian Death Tolls". Newsweek. Retrieved 26 October 2023. What they say to me is that I have no notion the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many are killed ... I'm sure innocents have been killed and it's the price of waging a war ... The Israelis should be incredibly careful to be sure that they're focusing on going after the folks that are propagating this war against Israel and it's against their interest when that doesn't happen but I have no confidence in the number that the Palestinians are using.""What they say to me is that I have no notion the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many are killed ... I'm sure innocents have been killed and it's the price of waging a war ... The Israelis should be incredibly careful to be sure that they're focusing on going after the folks that are propagating this war against Israel and it's against their interest when that doesn't happen but I have no confidence in the number that the Palestinians are using.
^"The population registry". Gisha. 14 November 2011. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
Gisha, an Israeli NGO, states, "Israel continues to control the Palestinian population registry which is common to the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Any change made in these records requires Israel's approval, including the registration of births, marriages, divorces, deaths or address changes."
^"Health Sector Emergency Report". Gaza Health Ministry Telegram. State of Palestine Health Ministry - Gaza (published April 2, 2024). March 31, 2024. Retrieved 2024-04-12.
^"Health Sector Emergency Report". Telegram. Palestinian Ministry of Health (Gaza) (published April 1, 2024). April 3, 2024. Retrieved 2024-04-12.
^"Health Sector Emergency Report". Telegram. Palestinian Ministry of Health (Gaza) (published April 4, 2024). April 6, 2024. Retrieved 2024-04-12.
^"Israel suffocating journalism in Gaza". Reporters Without Borders. 20 October 2023. Retrieved 8 November 2023. In a statement to the
United Nations, Tania Hary, the executive director of the Israeli non-profit
Gisha, noted that Israel maintains Gaza's population registry, which documents and determines where people live.
^59 policemen have been killed in the conflict,
[1] two of which died in the West Bank,
[2][3] leaving a total of 57 killed in the initial 7 October attack by Hamas.