Death toll from Israeli war in Gaza rises to over 50,000 – Health Ministry says

The Gaza Health Ministry said on Sunday that at least 50,021 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory since the start of the war with Israel in October 2023.

"The number of victims from the Israeli aggression has reached 50,021 martyrs and 113,274 wounded since October 7, 2023," a ministry statement said, referring to the day Hamas launched the attack on Israel that sparked the war, foreign media wrote, according to Telegraph.

The territory's civil protection agency, citing its own data, also said the number had passed 50,000.

AFP stresses that it has not been able to independently verify the figures, as has been the case throughout the war.

However, the United Nations has considered the figures from the health ministry to be credible.

The number rose this week after the breakdown of a ceasefire that had largely held since January 19, with Israel launching heavy bombardment of the Gaza Strip and a renewed ground offensive.

The health ministry reported at least 39 deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of people killed to 673 since Israel resumed operations in the Palestinian territory on Tuesday.

The war was reignited by a Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, in southern Israel, which resulted in 1,218 deaths, mostly civilians, according to Israeli figures. /Telegraph/