ISRAELI OCCUPIED GAZA, 01 Feb. - (ANA) - Israel's military (IDF) has acknowledged Gaza's death toll exceeds 70,000, even as rights experts warn the true number may be far higher.

 

The Israeli military has for the first time acknowledged figures released by Gaza's health ministry indicating that more than 70,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's genocide on the enclave, Israeli media reported on Thursday.

 

According to the Gaza health ministry, at least 71,667 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched its brutal military campaign in October 2023, including hundreds killed after a ceasefire agreement came into effect in October last year.

 

The figures do not include those believed to be buried under the rubble or those who died from starvation, disease or the collapse of Gaza's healthcare system as a result of Israeli attacks.

 

Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that military officials now regard the ministry's death toll as credible, marking a significant shift after years of Israeli government efforts to dismiss Palestinian casualty figures as unreliable.

 

The figures have long been cited by international humanitarian organisations, including the United Nations, yet many mainstream Western media outlets caveated their reporting of the figure by emphasising that the data had come from Gaza's "Hamas-run" health ministry.

 

The death toll reflects Palestinians killed directly by Israeli fire, while Gaza's health ministry has also reported more than 171,000 wounded, amounting to over eight percent of the territory's population.

 

Israeli military officials did not comment publicly on the report, but Haaretz said the army was analysing the data to determine how many of those killed it categorises as combatants or civilians, even though the majority of victims were women and children.

 

Several independent studies have suggested that the true number of deaths in Gaza is far higher than official figures.

 

Research published in the medical journal The Lancet in January 2025 estimated that the real death toll could be around 40 percent higher than documented numbers, due to undercounting amid mass destruction, displacement and the collapse of civil registration systems.

 

Professor Michael Spagat of Royal Holloway, University of London, also estimated that more than 75,000 people had likely been killed by early 2025, at a time when the official toll stood at around 45,600.

 

Palestinian and international rights advocates say Israel's acknowledgement of more than 70,000 deaths exposes the scale of destruction in Gaza and undermines long-standing Israeli claims that Palestinian casualty figures were exaggerated.

 

Human rights experts have repeatedly warned that the documented death toll captures only part of the devastation.

 

In September 2025, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, Francesca Albanese, said that some scholars and scientists estimate Gaza's real death toll could reach as high as 680,000.

 

Speaking during a UN press briefing in Geneva, Albanese stressed that official counts exclude people buried under rubble and those who died from indirect causes, such as hunger, disease and the lack of medical care caused by Israel’s siege and bombardment.

 

"In fact, we shall start thinking of 680,000, because this is the number that some scholars and scientists claim is the real death toll in Gaza," she said, noting that such figures would be difficult to verify without full access to the territory.

 

Albanese added that, if confirmed, as many as 380,000 of the dead could be children under the age of five.

 

Violence has continued in Gaza despite the ceasefire. On Thursday, two Palestinians were killed in eastern Khan Younis near areas where Israeli forces remain active, according to local medics.

 

The developments come as Israel and Hamas prepare to move into the second phase of the ceasefire, following the recovery of the body of the final Israeli captive believed to be held in Gaza.

 

Israel has said it agreed to reopen the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, which has largely remained closed since Israeli forces seized control of the Palestinian side in May 2024.

 

However, Israeli officials have sought to impose conditions on the crossing’s operation, including restrictions aimed at ensuring that more Palestinians leave Gaza than are allowed to return.

 

Rights groups and Palestinian officials have warned that such measures risk turning humanitarian corridors into tools for forced expulsions.   - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/01 February 2026 - - -