Health ministry in Gaza says over 48,000 killed, 111,638 wounded in war

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories — The health ministry in the Gaza Strip said on Saturday that at least 48,181 people had been killed in the Palestinian territory in the Israeli war. 

Hamas and Israel have agreed a ceasefire, which came into effect on January 19 and ushered in a fragile calm.

But the confirmed number of dead published by the Gaza health ministry has continued to rise daily as bodies are discovered under the rubble, victims are identified or people die from wounds sustained earlier in the war.

Over the last 48 hours, 26 deaths have been recorded and more than 570 earlier deaths had been confirmed, according to the ministry.

It said a total of 111,638 people have been wounded during the war, which began in October 2023.

Israel has repeatedly cast doubt on the ministry's figures, which the United Nations considers reliable.

A study published in early January in the British medical journal The Lancet estimated the death toll in Gaza due to hostilities during the first nine months of the was about 40-per cent higher than the figures recorded by the Gaza health ministry.

AFP is unable to independently verify the death toll.