The Hebrew newspaper Haaretz has reported that the number of Palestinian victims in the Gaza Strip is approaching 100,000, including those who died directly in Israeli attacks or died due to the effects of war, such as hunger and disease, since the aggression began on 7 October 2023.

The newspaper added that these figures mean that about 4% of the population of the Strip have lost their lives, making this war one of the bloodiest of the current century.

Ministry of Health figures for Gaza are lower than reality

Haaretz referred to a new study prepared by an international research team led by Professor Michael Spagat of the University of London, with the participation of Dr. Khalil Shqaqi. The study included a survey of 2,000 Palestinian families in Gaza, representing about 10,000 people.

It concluded that about 75,200 people were killed as a result of the violence until January 2025, while the Ministry of Health in Gaza had announced 45,660 deaths at that time. This means that the actual number may be 40% higher.

Indirect deaths and a high percentage of women and children dead in Gaza

In addition to direct deaths, the study addressed deaths resulting from hunger, lack of medicine, the spread of disease, and the collapse of the health system, showing that the total number of deaths as of last January was about 83,740 people.

According to the report, the death toll has increased since then, with the Ministry of Health in Gaza announcing that more than 10,000 people were killed after January, bringing the total to around 100,000 deaths.

The study showed that 56% of the victims were women and children, an unprecedented percentage in contemporary conflicts. This percentage exceeds that recorded in conflicts such as Syria, Iraq, Kosovo, and Sudan.

Spagat said that the death rate compared to the population was about 4%, one of the highest rates recorded in the 21st century.

Absence of Israeli data

The Haaretz report noted that the Israeli army did not announce any official figures on the number of civilian deaths in Gaza, which is unusual. Instead, Israel has repeatedly claimed that 20,000 members of Hamas and other factions were killed, but without providing any evidence or lists.

The researchers confirmed that the Palestinian Ministry of Health’s data, despite Israeli skepticism, is accurate and may even be lower than the actual figures, pointing to its consistency with the results of other international studies.

As of the end of June, the Ministry of Health in Gaza reported that the war had resulted in more than 189,000 deaths and injuries, in addition to more than 11,000 missing persons, most of them women and children, amid continuing siege, famine, and mass displacement.

Featured image via the Canary

By Alaa Shamali

This post was originally published on Canary.