According to the IDF, the scale of losses in Gaza was shaped both by combat actions and by Hamas's reprisals against opponents and the deaths of Palestinians from falling defective rockets. This complicates the assessment of the number of civilian casualties.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed for the first time that approximately 70,000 people have died in the Gaza Strip during the war between Israeli forces and the Palestinian radical Islamist movement Hamas. This was reported on Thursday, January 29, by The Jerusalem Post and The Times of Israel.
According to the IDF, about 25,000 of this number were Hamas militants. The Israeli army also indicates that up until the first months of 2024, about 13% of the rockets launched by Hamas from Gaza had technical defects and fell in the territory of the strip, resulting in the deaths of a large number of Palestinians.
According to IDF estimates, Hamas forces also executed many Palestinians whom they considered political opponents, accused of collaborating with Israel, or those they tried to prevent from fleeing from several areas of Gaza. The IDF is currently working on an accurate assessment of the ratio of civilian casualties to militants, as well as the number of people killed by Hamas representatives.
According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, the current death toll stands at 71,667, including more than 450 people killed after the ceasefire in October 2025. The agency has identified the names and identities of over 90 percent of the victims whose bodies have been found. However, it did not specify how this statistic was compiled, particularly how many Islamist militants were among the deceased, and whether it included deaths of Palestinians in hospitals from natural causes.
Escalation of the Conflict in the Middle East
The situation in the Middle East sharply escalated on October 7, 2023. The radical Islamist movement Hamas, recognized as a terrorist organization by the European Union and the United States, carried out a large-scale attack on Israel. Militants launched a massive rocket strike on Israel, invaded its territory, and carried out the largest massacre of civilians in the history of the modern Israeli state, killing about 1,200 people. The militants also took about 250 hostages and transported them to the Gaza Strip. Some hostages were exchanged or released, while others were killed.
In response, Israel declared war on Hamas. During the ground operation and bombings of the Gaza Strip, about 170,000 were reported injured, according to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health. Hamas is recognized as a terrorist organization, particularly in the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Ceasefire and Trump's Peace Plan for Gaza
In October 2025, the authorities of Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire based on a peace plan developed by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. The United States, Turkey, Qatar, and Egypt acted as guarantors of the agreements between Israel and the Hamas movement. During the first phase, Hamas militants returned all remaining Israeli hostages in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
In mid-January, the White House announced the start of the second phase of Trump's plan to end hostilities in the Gaza Strip. This phase is to establish a "Council for Peace" and an accountable National Committee, which will take over the administration of the region until the Palestinian National Authority is ready to assume this task.
