RAFAH: The war in Gaza has killed more than 20,000 Palestinians, health officials in the Hamas-run territory said Friday, a new reflection of the staggering cost of Israel’s military offensive as pressure grows to scale it back.
The figure, amounting to nearly 1% of the territory’s prewar population, is just one measure of the devastation wrought by the conflict, which over 11 weeks has displaced nearly 85% of Gaza’s people and levelled wide swaths of the tiny coastal enclave.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said it has documented 20,057 deaths in the fighting. It does not differentiate between combatant and civilian deaths. It previously said that roughly two-thirds of the dead were women or minors. They also added that 53,320 Palestinians have been wounded.
Israel declared war after Hamas militants stormed across its border on Oct. 7 killing some 1,200 people and kidnapping 240 others.
Israel has carried out thousands of airstrikes as well as a fierce ground offensive in what it says is a campaign to destroy Hamas’ military capabilities. It blames Hamas for the high civilian death toll, citing the group’s use of crowded residential areas for military purposes.
Israeli officials say the army has killed some 7,000 Hamas militants, but it has not presented any evidence to back up the claim.