The number of Palestinians killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza since 7 October has surpassed 30,000, the Hamas-run health ministry in the enclave says.
The ministry, an agency in the Hamas-controlled government, is the only official source for Gaza casualties, with Israel limiting access to foreign journalists.
They say 30,035 people have been killed, and 70,457 injured in Israel’s assault as of today.
The United Nations and Palestinian authorities in the West Bank have previously said the ministry has long made a good-faith effort to account for the dead.
In November, the World Health Organization’s Michael Ryan, executive director of the Health Emergencies Program, said: “The numbers may not be perfectly accurate on a minute-to-minute basis but they largely reflect the level of death and injury.”
In previous wars, the ministry’s counts have held up to UN scrutiny, independent investigations and even Israel’s tallies.
But Israel has accused Hamas of inflating the death toll during this conflict.
The ministry’s credibility was called into question when conflicting figures were released after an explosion at al Ahli hospital in mid-October.
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