THE confirmed number of people killed in Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip has surpassed 70,000, according to the enclave’s health ministry, which on Saturday reported a total of 70,100 deaths.
Reuters cite today that the latest increase includes 301 people added to the tally since Thursday, among them two victims of recent Israeli strikes.
The remainder were identified from bodies long buried beneath debris.
Israel did not immediately comment on the updated figures and has previously cast doubt on the accuracy of casualty numbers issued by Gaza’s health authorities, though it has not released its own assessment.
The sheer scale of destruction across Gaza has made the task of verifying casualties extraordinarily difficult. Israel’s bombardment, launched in response to the Hamas-led assault of 7 October 2023 that killed 1,200 people in Israel and resulted in 251 hostages being taken, has levelled neighbourhoods and fractured basic record-keeping.
During the early months of the war, officials in Gaza relied on bodies brought to hospitals, logging names and identity numbers.
As conditions worsened and reporting became erratic, health authorities said they delayed adding thousands of reported deaths until they could complete forensic, medical and legal verification.
Since a fragile ceasefire took effect on 10 October, the death toll has continued to rise, with search teams using the relative calm to comb through the ruins in areas previously inaccessible.
The human toll is evident in the stories of survivors. Moaz Mghari said he lost 62 relatives, including his parents and four siblings, in a series of Israeli airstrikes that brought down two residential buildings near the entrance of Bureij camp in central Gaza.
He recounted that he had been shopping nearby when the explosions sounded. “Then I began to realise what happened, I lost everything, I lost everyone,” he said.
Israel’s military has consistently denied targeting civilians throughout the conflict, now entering its third year.
Public health experts note that pre-war Gaza maintained comparatively strong population records and health information systems, lending credibility to its casualty data.
The United Nations continues to cite figures released by the enclave’s health ministry and has described them as credible.
As recovery efforts continue, officials warn that the final death toll may climb further, with many areas still inaccessible and thousands of people unaccounted for. - November 30, 2025
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