Gaza’s health ministry says the death toll from the Israel-Hamas war has surpassed 70,000 as a fragile US-brokered ceasefire continues with mutual accusations of violations.
Gaza’s health ministry announced that the death toll from the Israel-Hamas war has risen to 70,100, noting that a recent spike came after “data relating to 299 bodies had been processed and approved by the authorities,” while 354 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the October 10 ceasefire began. Despite the largely holding US-brokered truce, both sides accuse each other of breaching its terms, and Gaza remains in severe humanitarian crisis. The war, triggered by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack that killed 1,221 people and saw militants abduct 251 others, has since seen militants release all surviving hostages and return 26 bodies, while Israel has freed nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and returned hundreds of remains.