Gaza counts war cost: 47,000 martyrs, 88% of strip destroyed, $38 bln in losses

Ahram Online , Tuesday 21 Jan 2025

The devastating toll of the bloodiest war on Gaza was laid bare on Tuesday as Gaza’s Government Media Office released a statement detailing staggering statistics.

People walk past the rubble of damaged and collapsed buildings in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza St
People walk past the rubble of damaged and collapsed buildings in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip a day after a ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas went into effect. AFP

 

Below are the updated statistics.

The deadliest war
  • 470 days of Israeli genocidal war on Gaza.
  • 10,100 massacres committed overall by Israeli forces.
  • 9,268 massacres targeted Palestinian civilians.
  • 46,960 martyrs recorded in hospitals.
  • 14,222 missing persons unaccounted for as of 18 January 2025.
  • 70 percent of victims were children and women.
Families erased from existence
 
  • 2,092 families were completely exterminated, with 5,967 members killed.
  • 4,889 families left with only one surviving member.
  • 17,861 child martyrs, including 808 under one year old.
  • 214 newborns died during the conflict.
  • 44 deaths from malnutrition and food shortages caused by the blockade.
  • Eight deaths due to extreme cold in displacement camps, including seven children.
  • 38,495 orphans created by the war.
  • 3,500 children at risk of death from malnutrition.
  • 12,316 women martyrs killed by Israeli forces.
  • 1,155 medical staff, 94 Civil Defense workers, 205 journalists, and 736 police officers killed.
  • 520 martyrs recovered from seven mass graves inside hospitals.
A humanitarian catastrophe
 
  • 220 shelters targeted by Israeli forces.
  • Only 10 percent of Gaza designated as "humanitarian areas."
  • 13,901 widows due to the war.
  • 12,700 wounded require treatment outside Gaza.
  • 12,500 cancer patients face death due to lack of treatment.
  • 2,136,026 cases of infectious diseases reported, including 71,338 cases of viral hepatitis.
  • 6,600 individuals arrested by Israeli forces, including 360 health workers, 48 journalists, and 26 Civil Defense personnel.
  • Three doctors killed inside Israeli prisons.
  • Two million displaced persons across Gaza.
Targeting essential services
 
  • 137 schools and universities destroyed, with 357 partially damaged.
  • 12,800 students killed and 785,000 deprived of education.
  • 760 teachers and education staff killed.
  • 150 scientists, professors, and researchers executed.
  • 823 mosques and 3 churches destroyed.
  • 19 cemeteries damaged, with 2,300 bodies stolen by occupation forces.
  • 34 hospitals destroyed or rendered inoperative.
  • 80 health centres forced out of service.
  • 136 ambulances targeted.
Unprecedented destruction
 
  • 161,600 housing units completely destroyed.
  • 82,000 units rendered uninhabitable, and 194,000 partially damaged.
  • 100,000 tons of explosives dropped on Gaza.
  • 206 heritage sites destroyed.
  • 3,680 kilometres of electricity networks demolished.
  • 330,000 metres of water networks ruined.
  • 2,835,000 metres of road infrastructure destroyed.
  • 42 sports facilities destroyed.
  • 717 water wells rendered inoperative.
  • 88 percent of Gaza’s infrastructure destroyed.
  • $38 billion in direct losses reported.
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