Israel’s war on Gaza has killed 50,000 Palestinians since October 2023

The number of Palestinians killed since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023, has crossed 50,000, according to health officials.

Gaza’s Ministry of Health said on Sunday that at least 50,021 Palestinians have been killed and 113,274 wounded since Israel began attacking the besieged territory following an attack led by the Palestinian group Hamas on October 7, 2023. An estimated 1,139 people were killed and some 250 were taken captive in the attack in southern Israel.

Over the past 24 hours, at least 41 people have been killed in the latest Israeli attacks on Gaza as the military ramped up its offensive after talks to extend phase 1 of the ceasefire, which came into effect on January 19, collapsed as Israel refused to go into phase 2 of the truce deal with Hamas. Entering phase 2 would have required Israel to withdraw its forces from Gaza – a condition it agreed to in the ceasefire deal mediated by Egypt and Qatar.

Even during phase 1, Israel killed more than 150 Palestinians in Gaza.

Reporting from Gaza City in northern Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said the record death toll is a “very grim, horrifying milestone”.

“For the record, the 50,000 figure is only a conservative estimate. These are only the people who have been registered at health facilities across the Gaza Strip. There are so many others buried without being registered or who have gone missing, trapped under piles of rubble,” Mahmoud said.

“Of the more than 50,000 killed, 17,000 are children. A whole generation has been wiped out. These children would have affected how their society would have progressed – politically, economically and intellectually,” he added.

The Gaza media office says more than 11,000 who are missing are presumed dead.

The accumulative effects of Israel’s war on Gaza could mean the true death toll could reach more than 186,000 people, according to a study published last July in the journal Lancet.

Forced evacuations

The Israeli military on Sunday called on residents in the southern Gaza city of Rafah to forcibly evacuate as its troops began operations in the area.

Israeli troops have surrounded Rafah’s Tal as-Sultan neighbourhood, the military says.

It called on Palestinians there to leave the “dangerous combat zone” and move further north. Before a ceasefire was agreed on January 19, more than 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million people were displaced. Israel has been accused of repeatedly targeting so-called “safe zones” where it forced people to take shelter.

The Israeli military also announced that it was conducting operations in Beit Hanoon in northern Gaza.

Last week, Israel resumed its attacks, shattering the ceasefire after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he would pursue a military path to pressure Hamas into accepting a deal to release remaining captives, who were not exchanged in the January ceasefire agreement.

Hamas reiterates it is ready to release all the captives if Israel agrees to enter phase 2 of the earlier truce deal.

Since Tuesday, Israel has killed more than 600 people, including more than 200 children.

Earlier, Hamas announced that its official Salah al-Bardawil was killed in an Israeli attack on his tent in Khan Younis in the early hours of Sunday.

The Israeli military offensive comes as Gaza is reeling from a total blockade by Israel since March 1. There is a severe shortage of food, water, medicine and fuel in the enclave. Rights group Amnesty International said cutting off electricity supply to a desalination plant in Gaza was “cruel and unlawful”.

“Israel’s decision to cut off electricity to Gaza’s main operational desalination plant, a week after it halted the entry of all humanitarian aid and commercial supplies, including fuel and food, violates international humanitarian law and is further evidence of Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip,” Erika Guevara Rosas, a senior director at Amnesty, said on March 10.

The United Kingdom, France, and Germany issued a joint statement calling on Israel to allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.