Two Palestinians carry the body of a person killed while waiting for aid, in front of al-Shifa hospital in Gaza on July 3, 2025. (Credit: Omar al-Qattaa/AFP)
The Israeli army confirmed on Wednesday, for the first time, that at least 70,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the start of its genocidal offensive against the enclave, according to Israeli media, thus endorsing the figures previously published by the local Health Ministry throughout the war.
"The Israeli army has accepted the estimate of the Health Ministry in Gaza, which is led by Hamas, that about 70,000 Palestinians have been killed during the Israel-Hamas war," reported the Israeli daily Haaretz.
492 deaths since the cease-fire
Frequently questioned due to Hamas' control of the ministry, the near-daily tolls provided by Gaza’s health authorities are considered credible by the U.N., based on experience from previous wars on the enclave.
In its latest report published Wednesday, Jan. 28, the ministry reported at least 71,667 Palestinians killed by Israeli army fire or airstrikes since Oct. 7, 2023, specifying that 492 people were killed during the cease-fire, which took effect on Oct. 10, 2025 and is expected to soon enter its second phase.
"The army disputes the percentage of civilian deaths put forward by the U.N. and states that no healthy person died of starvation," added the Jerusalem Post, which also reported this estimate of "70,000 deaths" while noting that the Gaza ministry does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its data.
In July, the agency provided a detailed list more than 2,000 pages long that included the names and civil registration numbers of all recorded victims at the time. It notably included the names of 18,430 children killed and indicated that 56% of the recorded victims were either children, women, or people over 60 years old.
Israel has never refuted these figures by providing contradictory information, while several studies have suggested that the number of deaths in Gaza may be even higher than the official count. In June, two studies conducted by specialists in conflict mortality estimation found that about 75,200 Gazans had died as a result of "violent death" between Oct. 7, 2023, and January 2025 (one year ago), thus contradicting the Health Ministry’s figure at the time of about 55,000 deaths.
This led them to conclude that these tolls underestimated the real number of people killed by about 40%, and these figures do not include those missing under the rubble or "indirect deaths" (related to disease, malnutrition, or lack of care).
According to an estimate published on Oct. 5, 2025, by the ministry, at least 460 people died of malnutrition, including 154 children, during periods of famine that struck the Palestinian enclave as a result of the Israeli blockade on humanitarian aid.
Nine newborns have also died of hypothermia since the start of winter, according to the ministry, although there is no official indication as to the extent of those "indirect deaths."
83 percent civilian deaths?
Additionally, a joint investigation published in October by the British daily The Guardian and the Israeli magazine +972 revealed that 83 percent of deaths recorded in the enclave were civilians, according to data from the Israeli military intelligence directorate.
On Aug. 20, the spokesperson for the Israeli army published a summary of the results of Operation "Chariots of Gideon," which began after the collapse of the previous cease-fire with Hamas on March 18 (broken by Israel, which at that time refused to move to the second phase of the agreement).
In that statement, the Israeli army stated it had killed “more than 2,100 terrorists.” The statement specifically included the names of 34 Hamas commanders or leaders killed during the operation.
On the same day, the Palestinian Health Ministry stated that it had recorded 10,576 Palestinians killed during the same timeframe since the previous cease-fire between January and March 2025. According to the Israeli army’s figures, just under 20 percent of these 10,576 deaths in that period would be members of armed Palestinian factions.
At the same time, a U.N.-mandated international commission of inquiry accused Israel for the first time in a report of committing "genocide" against Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023. The commission then concluded that "genocide is taking place in Gaza and continues to take place," with the intent of "destroying" the Palestinians, according to its president, Navi Pillay.
This report added to long-standing accusations by several NGOs, including Amnesty International.
Additionally, Israel has been under investigation by the International Court of Justice since January 2024 following a complaint filed by South Africa. It urged Israel in an order published in March 2024 to "take all measures within its power to prevent acts falling within Article II of the Genocide Convention against Palestinians in Gaza," while underlining the "plausibility" of certain breaches of that convention.
After the report's publication, the U.N. human rights chief, Volker Türk, said he saw "increasing evidence" of "genocide" in Gaza. Israel then "categorically rejected" the report, labeling it "biased and false."
