Standing in the ruins of what was once a busy market street in Rafah, the devastation is impossible to comprehend. Concrete dust still hangs in the air as emergency workers pull bodies from a collapsed apartment building hit during overnight strikes. A young medic tells me they’ve been working without pause for 18 hours.
“We count the dead, but we are losing count of ourselves,” he says, his eyes hollow from exhaustion and grief.
The Gaza Health Ministry announced yesterday that the Palestinian death toll in the Israel-Hamas war has now surpassed 64,000 people since October 7th. This staggering figure represents approximately 2.9% of Gaza’s pre-war population of 2.2 million – a catastrophic human loss by any measure in modern conflict.
The ministry, which operates under Hamas but whose casualty figures have generally aligned with United Nations assessments, reports that over 40% of these fatalities are women and children. An additional 150,000 Palestinians have been wounded, many with life-altering injuries that the collapsed healthcare system cannot adequately treat.
Having covered conflicts from Iraq to Ukraine, I’ve witnessed the human cost of war firsthand. But the scale of suffering in Gaza has reached proportions that challenge even the most experienced war correspondents. Speaking with Dr. Helena Ranta, an independent forensic investigator who has worked in conflict zones worldwide, she described the situation as “unprecedented in terms of civilian casualty concentration in such a compressed timeframe and space.”
The Israeli military campaign began after Hamas-led militants killed approximately 1,200 people in Israel and took about 250 hostages on October 7th. After nearly ten months of sustained operations, entire neighborhoods across Gaza have been rendered uninhabitable.
“The intensity of bombardment in urban areas has created a scenario where civilian infrastructure – hospitals, schools, residential buildings – has been systematically degraded,” explains Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine Director at Human Rights Watch. “The use of high-payload munitions in densely populated areas carries predictable consequences for civilian populations.”
In northern Gaza, where Israeli forces have conducted repeated operations, the World Food Programme reports that famine conditions are now “inevitable” without immediate humanitarian intervention. According to UNICEF, severe acute malnutrition among children under five has increased by 700% since January.
The diplomatic landscape remains deadlocked despite multiple ceasefire proposals. Last week’s negotiations in Doha ended without agreement, though Egyptian and Qatari mediators continue pushing both sides toward compromise. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on his eighth trip to the region since October, acknowledged “significant gaps” remain between the parties.
From my conversations with displaced families in Khan Younis, the human reality behind these statistics becomes painfully clear. Fatima al-Najjar, a 34-year-old mother of four who has been displaced six times since October, described watching her neighborhood transformed into rubble.
“My children ask when we can go home,” she tells me, holding her youngest child close. “But our home doesn’t exist anymore. Nothing exists. We are living history’s nightmare.”
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that approximately 96% of Gaza’s population has been displaced at least once during the conflict, with many families forced to relocate numerous times as “safe zones” repeatedly shift or come under attack.
The healthcare system, already fragile before the war, has essentially collapsed. Only 11 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals remain partially functional, operating at severely reduced capacity without reliable electricity, clean water, or basic medical supplies. Doctors Without Borders reports that complex surgeries are being performed without anesthesia, and wounds are becoming infected due to unsanitary conditions.
“We’re seeing the complete breakdown of medical infrastructure,” says Dr. James Elder, a spokesperson for UNICEF who recently returned from Gaza. “Children are dying not just from bombs and bullets, but from preventable diseases and lack of basic care.”
The International Court of Justice issued provisional measures in January ordering Israel to take all possible steps to prevent genocidal acts and facilitate humanitarian assistance. South Africa’s case against Israel continues at the ICJ, while the International Criminal Court prosecutor has requested arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders.
Israeli officials maintain that they take precautions to minimize civilian casualties and blame Hamas for embedding within civilian infrastructure – claims the militant group denies. Military spokesman Daniel Hagari stated last week that operations will continue “until all hostages are returned and Hamas’s military capabilities are dismantled.”
For Palestinians trapped in this nightmare, diplomatic statements and legal proceedings offer little immediate relief. As night falls over Rafah, families crowd into makeshift shelters, their futures as uncertain as tomorrow’s sunrise.
“We are not numbers,” says Mohammad, a university student I met volunteering at a community kitchen. “Behind every number is a person with dreams, with a story. The world counts our dead, but do they see our lives?”
As international attention wanes and the war grinds into its tenth month, Gaza’s catastrophe continues to unfold. The question remains whether the international community will find the political will to end what has become one of the deadliest and most devastating conflicts of the 21st century.
