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| Four Israeli soldiers stand behind razor wire near the Palestinian village. Credit: Joel Carillet |
Over 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its war against Hamas, according to the health ministry. The ministry reported that 40 people had died in Gaza during the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths since October 7 to 40,005. More than 92,401 have been injured. Palestinian authorities do not distinguish between combatants and civilians, but it is clear that most of the dead are civilians, including many women and children. Israel said last month that it had killed more than 14,000 combatants in Gaza since the start of the war.
The soaring figures give a window into the daily suffering, malnutrition, and volatility in Gaza after 10 months of conflict. The milestone has been passed at a particularly unpredictable point in the conflict, as a new round of ceasefire talks are due to begin Thursday. The killings of senior figures in Hamas and the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah upended the leadership of both organizations and made the negotiations appear precarious.
An especially deadly weekend for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip saw at least 93 people killed overnight into Saturday when an Israeli strike hit a school and mosque in the eastern part of Gaza City where displaced people were sheltering. The Israel Defense Forces confirmed that it hit the compound and said that “at least 19 Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists were eliminated” in the strike.
Hopes of a hostage-for-ceasefire agreement seemed to diminish in recent weeks after Israel launched a series of strikes against senior figures in Hamas and Hezbollah, which has been sparring with Israel on a near-daily basis since October. Egyptian and Qatari mediators have conveyed to Israeli officials that Yahya Sinwar, the new head of its political bureau following the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, wants a ceasefire deal. Israel said it would send a delegation to the talks, but Hamas has said it will not participate in talks Thursday but is willing to speak to mediators afterwards if there are “developments or a serious response from Israel.”
Sinwar, a hardliner and one of the masterminds behind the October 7 terror attacks, was previously dismissed of a ceasefire and hostage release deal. Hamas has asked mediators to implement a ceasefire plan based on previous ceasefire talks, such as those put forward by US President Joe Biden and the UN Security Council in July. International pressure is intensifying for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach an agreement with Hamas.
A drumbeat of Western criticism of Netanyahu's actions has grown louder in recent weeks, with the election of a Labour government in the United Kingdom and the confirmation of US Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee for November's presidential election. Harris said that "far too many" civilians have been killed in Gaza, saying a deal "needs to get done now."
The Hostage and Missing Families Forum, a powerful voice in Israel, has repeatedly called on Israel and Hamas to finalize a hostage-and-ceasefire deal. A ceasefire deal would provide a reprieve for the approximately 2.2 million Palestinians who have been living in nightmarish conditions in Gaza. Nearly everyone living in Gaza has been displaced in the conflict, with many people forced to flee repeatedly as the Israeli military operation expanded. In recent days, some 75,000 people southwest Gaza have been evacuated after Israeli evacuation orders were issued. Less than a sixth of the area of Gaza is not under Israeli evacuation orders.
Fikr Shalltoot, the Gaza Director for aid group Medical Aid for Palestinians, said the impending milestone means that 40,000 families are grieving and their hearts are broken. Many people are losing hope and faith, but mostly people are losing trust in the international community.
