84thousand martyrs in Gaza since the beginning of the aggression

The first independent survey of the number of martyrs in the Gaza Strip estimated that about 84,000 Palestinians were killed between October 2023 and early January 2025 as a result of the Israeli war of extermination on the Strip.

The study, published on the health sciences website medRxiv, reported that more than half of the martyrs were women between the ages of 18 and 64, children, as well as people over the age of 65.

Since the beginning of the aggression, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza has been the main institution counting martyrs in the area, regularly publishing detailed lists.

The latest statistics, on June 25, reported 56,200 martyrs. However, some questioned the reliability of the ministry’s figures and the studies based on them, especially with the development of aggression and the damage to medical centers on which the ministry relies to obtain death data.

To conduct an independent mortality survey, researchers worked with the nonprofit Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah to randomly survey selected households representing the population across the Gaza Strip, including people living in makeshift shelters and tents.

The survey team could not enter northern Gaza, Gaza City, or Rafah due to the ongoing Israeli aggression and evacuation orders, but many people living in those areas have displaced to the areas included in the survey.