More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, the territory’s health ministry has said.
Israel’s offensive has also wounded 92,401 people and displaced more than 85 per cent of the population from their homes, the ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said. It does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its toll.
The death toll means one in 50 of Gaza’s two million residents have been killed.
The announcement came during yet another push from international mediators to broker a ceasefire in the war, now in its 11th month.
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The conflict began on October 7th after Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people – most of them civilians – and taking about 250 hostages.
Israel says 111 of the captives have not been released, including the bodies of 39. The hostages include 15 women and two children under the age of five.
In Gaza, health officials have struggled to fully identify the dead as bodies stream into overwhelmed hospitals and morgues where they say the count is compiled amid the chaos of war and displacement.
In its most recent detailed report on the dead, issued on Thursday, the health ministry said 40,005 people have been killed.
Health officials and civil defence workers say the true toll is thousands higher, since many bodies remain buried under the rubble of buildings destroyed in air strikes.
The update comes as international mediators are set to hold a new round of talks aimed at halting the war and securing the release of scores of hostages.
The US, Qatar and Egypt are to meet an Israeli delegation in Qatar, although Hamas has not said whether it will participate, accusing Israel of adding new demands to an evolving proposal that had US and international support.
A ceasefire in Gaza would calm tensions across the region and may persuade Iran and Lebanon’s Hizbullah to refrain from retaliatory strikes on Israel after the killing of a top Hizbullah commander in an Israeli air strike and of Hamas’ top political leader in an explosion in Iran’s capital.
The mediators have spent months trying to hammer out a three-phase plan in which Hamas would release scores of hostages captured in the October 7th attack that triggered the war in exchange for a lasting ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
Both sides have agreed in principle to the plan, which US president Joe Biden announced on May 31st.
Meanwhile, Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu has denied a report that he had spoken with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump about Gaza ceasefire and hostage release talks.
“Contrary to media reports, prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu did not speak yesterday with former president Donald Trump,” a statement from his office on Thursday said.
The report, in Axios, cited two US sources. One source said Mr Trump’s call on Wednesday was intended to encourage Mr Netanyahu to take the deal, but stressed he did not know if this is what the former president said.
The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment. – AP