Over 49,600 Palestinians killed since conflict began

News Desk :

Palestinian health authorities say Israel’s ground and air campaign in Gaza killed more than 49,600 people, with just over half of identified victims being women, children or older people.

Israel and Hamas agreed to a deal to halt the fighting in Gaza and exchange Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, an official briefed on the deal told Reuters on Wednesday, opening the way to a possible end to a 15-month war that has inflamed the Middle East.

Gaza’s Health Ministry says 506 Palestinians, including 200 children, have been killed and 909 injured in the enclave since Israel shattered the ceasefire on Tuesday.

At least 85 people have been killed and 133 injured in the war-torn territory since dawn alone, according to the Ministry. The latest round of Israeli-Palestinian conflict began on Oct. 7, 2023 when Hamas militants stormed across the border into Israeli communities. Israel says the militants killed more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took some 250 people into captivity in Gaza.

The official Palestinian Health Ministry count of more than 49,600 Palestinian dead amounts to more than 10 times its count of losses in all previous Gaza conflicts since 2008, according to a Reuters calculation.

This explainer examines how the Palestinian toll is calculated, how reliable it is, the breakdown of civilians and fighters killed and what each side says.