Over 47,000 Palestinians killed, wounded or missing in Gaza since Oct. 7
Gaza's Health Ministry recently reported that Israel's ongoing assault on Gaza has resulted in over 47,000 Palestinians killed, wounded or missing, with at least 3,000 massacres documented since Oct. 7, 2023.
Ministry officials highlighted that they are operating with minimal equipment in the northern Gaza Strip as Israel continues to block the delivery of medicines, medical supplies and fuel to the besieged enclave.
"We are trying to restart vital departments in the Al-Shifa Medical Complex and the Indonesian Hospital," the ministry stated.
Both hospitals have been directly targeted by the Israeli army during the 258 days of conflict in the Gaza Strip.
The ministry has recorded 37,431 Palestinian deaths and estimates at least 10,000 bodies are trapped under rubble, unreachable by health workers. Approximately 5,000 of these are believed to be children.
Three-quarters of the registered deaths are children (about 15,747), women (10,406) and elderly people. Over 85,653 individuals have been injured due to Israel's bombing of the strip, most of whom are children and women.
The ministry also noted that 98 percent of children in Gaza lack access to safe drinking water.
At least 33 children across the Gaza Strip, especially in the northern areas, have died from malnutrition and dehydration amid a growing famine, according to the ministry.
Israel continues its offensive on the Gaza Strip, pushing further into the southernmost city of Rafah despite international condemnation.
Rafah Mayor Ahmed al-Soufi told Anadolu Agency that "over 70 percent of public facilities and infrastructure have been destroyed in the Israeli onslaught." Soufi noted that Israel recently destroyed dozens of homes in western Rafah's Saudi neighborhood.
Israel claims only 16,000 civilians killed in Gaza
Last month, Israel published its own estimate of the death toll in Gaza, claiming that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have killed 14,000 alleged terrorists and 16,000 civilians in the Strip. At around this same time, the Gaza Health Ministry claimed that around 35,000 people had died and nearly 25,000 of those had been "fully identified."
The death toll does not distinguish between combatants and civilians, but both Gaza authorities and third parties like the United Nations have confirmed that most of the casualties are women and children.
The Israeli government and the IDF have sharply criticized the Gaza Health Ministry's casualty figures and media outlets for supposedly uncritically reporting the death and injury tolls of the conflict in Gaza, claiming that its own numbers are more reliable.
"Israel has repeatedly stated that the numbers coming out of Gaza, which are being echoed by UN agencies, have been manipulated by the Hamas terrorist organization," claimed Oren Marmorstein of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Public Affairs and Media Division. "[The numbers] are not accurate, and they do not reflect the reality on the ground."
Meanwhile, World Health Organization spokesperson Christian Lindmeier has defended the accuracy of Gaza's casualty estimates, telling reporters in Geneva that there is "nothing wrong with the data," and the fact that Gaza health workers and international volunteers have been working tirelessly to positively identify nearly 25,000 of those killed in Gaza "is a step forward."
https://www.cuzzblue.com/2024/06/over-47000-palestinians-killed-wounded.html