Three years on, Gaza health ministry puts war deaths above 74,000 amid wider destruction

Left · 1Three years after the war began, Al Jazeera reports that Israel's assault started on 7 October 2023, after Hamas's armed wing and other Palestinian groups attacked southern Israel, killing 1,139 people and taking about 240 captive. 1 Left · 1Al Jazeera, citing the Palestinian Ministry of Health, says at least 74,000 Palestinians have been killed, including at least 21,000 children, and more than 175,000 injured; a second Al Jazeera report gives 74,245 deaths. 1 2 Left · 1Al Jazeera says the ministry counts only deaths recorded at hospitals or officially registered, so the true toll is likely higher because thousands are buried under rubble or missing. 1

Left · 1A ceasefire took effect on 10 October 2025, but Al Jazeera reports that attacks have continued: the health ministry says 1,460 to 1,462 Palestinians have been killed since, and Al Jazeera's own analysis found Israeli attacks on 325 of the past 361 days. The US insists the ceasefire is holding. 1 2 Left · 1On infrastructure, Al Jazeera cites OCHA as saying 82 percent of structures are destroyed and 1.98 million people, 90 percent of the population, are displaced; it also cites UN figures that 65 percent of households live in tents or makeshift shelters. 1 2 Left · 1Health figures differ between Al Jazeera's pieces: one cites OCHA saying only 42 of 666 health facilities function, while the other cites the WHO saying all 36 hospitals have been damaged and 19 are functioning, none at full capacity. 1 2

Left · 1On education, Al Jazeera cites OCHA that about 93 percent of schools need complete reconstruction, while UNICEF figures in the other piece put damaged or destroyed schools at nearly 98 percent; about 700,000 children have missed almost three years of in-person schooling. 1 2 Left · 1Al Jazeera, citing UNCTAD, reports that 92 percent of economic establishments have been damaged or destroyed, unemployment is 78 percent, and GDP per capita was $212 in 2025, about 17 percent of its 2022 level. 2 Centre · 1Anadolu Agency, in a report on water and power, cites UN figures that 91 percent of households faced moderate-to-high water insecurity, 88 percent of above-ground water and sanitation assets and 76 percent of underground networks are damaged, and 90 percent of energy infrastructure is destroyed. 3

Centre · 1Anadolu also cites the Red Cross that water production is about 40 percent of pre-war levels, and the WHO that in August more than 73 percent of 938 water samples failed chlorine standards and 18 percent showed microbiological contamination. 3 Centre · 1Anadolu quotes Doctors Without Borders (MSF) as saying Israeli authorities have used access to water as a weapon in a campaign of collective punishment; the story does not carry an Israeli response to this charge. 3 Left · 1Al Jazeera reports that Israeli military control covers around 70 percent of Gaza according to Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, with over two million people in less than 30 percent of the Strip, and that the so-called Yellow Line has been moved deeper into populated areas. 2

Left · 1Al Jazeera says reconstruction under the ceasefire deal has stalled because Israel and Hamas have not agreed on Hamas's disarmament and the withdrawal of Israeli forces, and that Israel still bars most construction materials; in July Hamas said it would hand administrative powers to a technocratic committee, but the transition has not happened. 4 2 Left · 1Al Jazeera, citing the Shireen Abu Akleh Observatory, reports nearly 300 journalists and media workers killed since 7 October 2023, including 12 from Al Jazeera, and notes Israel bars foreign media from Gaza apart from reporters embedded with its soldiers. 1