To estimate the death toll, the ministry is now relying on testimony of families and friends of the dead, video footage of the strikes' aftermath and media reports rather than data provided by medical facilities, the newspaper reported, citing health ministry official Medhat Abbas.
The health authorities, eyewitnesses and UN staff reportedly believe that the definitive death toll from the hostilities in Gaza may take much time to be established since there were thousands of people and bodies under destroyed buildings and in mass graves.
Neither side of the conflict knows exactly how many people have died in Gaza during the nearly seven-month war, the newspaper reported. It also cited World Health Organization representative for the West Bank and Gaza Rik Peppercorn as saying that he would not be surprised if the death toll presented by the Gaza Health Ministry turned out to be "an underestimate."
On Friday, Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that at least 392 bodies had been retrieved from three mass graves at the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis, in southern Gaza, following the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the city earlier in April.
On October 7, 2023, Palestinian movement Hamas launched a large-scale rocket attack against Israel and breached the border, attacking both civilian neighborhoods and military bases. Nearly 1,200 people in Israel were killed and some 240 others abducted during the attack. Israel launched retaliatory strikes, ordered a complete blockade of Gaza, and started a ground incursion into the Palestinian enclave with the declared goal of eliminating Hamas fighters and rescuing the hostages. Over 34,400 people have been killed so far by Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip, according to local authorities.