Gaza health officials said on Saturday that more than 69,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Gaza war so far.
The latest jump in deaths is attributed to more bodies being recovered under the rubble in the devastated strip since the ceasefire began on October 10, and also because previously unidentified bodies were identified.
It also includes Palestinians killed by strikes on the territory since the truce took hold, attacks that Israel says are to take out remaining “militants”.
Israel and Hamas have completed the latest exchange of bodies under the terms of the tenuous ceasefire agreement. Though fragile, the deal appears to be holding, with Israel earlier on Saturday returning the bodies of 15 Palestinians to Gaza, according to hospital officials in the strip.
Also on Saturday, Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian farmers, paramedics, activists and journalists in the occupied West Bank as settler violence reached new highs in the territory.
The exchanges of the dead are the central component of the initial phase of the ceasefire deal, which requires that Hamas return all hostage remains as quickly as possible. The truce is aimed at winding down the deadliest and most destructive war ever fought between Israel and the Palestinian group.
The October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage.
Rising Palestinian death toll
Nearly a month after the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, authorities in Gaza continue to recover bodies amid widespread destruction, using limited equipment and resources.
The Health Ministry in Gaza said that the total number of people killed in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, has risen to 69,169, after more of the dead were identified and more bodies were recovered. The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals, maintains detailed records.
The ministry said 284 additional people were recently added to the cumulative total after their identities were verified between October 31 and Friday.
Over the past three days, 10 bodies were brought to Gaza hospitals – nine retrieved from under the rubble and one newly killed – along with six injured, the ministry also said. It added that a large number of Palestinians remain missing.
Since the ceasefire began on October 10, a total of 241 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry.
Bodies returned
Israel confirmed on Saturday that the remains given back the previous night were of an Israeli hostage who died while fighting in the 2023 attack.
For each Israeli hostage returned, Israel has been releasing the remains of 15 Palestinians. Israel on Saturday handed over the 15 Palestinian bodies. Nasser Hospital in the central Gaza city of Khan Younis confirmed receiving them.
Since the ceasefire started, Palestinian militants have released the remains of 23 hostages, leaving five still remaining in Gaza. Israel has so far handed over the bodies of 300 Palestinians. Gaza health officials have struggled to identify the bodies without access to DNA kits, and have so far identified 89 of them, Gaza’s Health Ministry says.
Israeli settlers attack olive harvesters
Palestinian health officials said 11 people were injured in Saturday’s attack by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, the latest as settler violence reaches new highs during this year’s olive harvest.
The UN humanitarian office has said that in October, it documented the highest monthly number of Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians and their property in the West Bank since the office began keeping track in 2006.
There were over 260 attacks, or an average of eight incidents per day, the office reported.
Palestinian paramedics said that journalists, volunteers and farmers were among those injured in the attack on the central town of Beita.
The circumstances of the attack were not immediately clear and Israel’s military did not respond to a request for comment.
A video of the aftermath circulating in Palestinian media shows a man holding a camera, blood trickling down his face and chest. It then showed the inside of a hospital, where a man in a journalist’s vest marked “press” and others with bandages on their heads were lying on the beds.
With settler violence surging in the territory, volunteers and activists have flocked to this year’s olive harvest to help Palestinian farmers safely reach and return from their fields. The groups have repeatedly come under attack over the last few weeks.
