Gaza death toll climbs as ceasefire allows rescuers to search rubble

According to the latest figures from the Palestinian health ministry, the death toll in Gaza from the 15-month war has risen to 47,107, with an additional 111,147 wounded, as assessments of the scale of destruction continue.

Since the ceasefire, over 248 people have been added to the death toll, including 183 bodies found under the rubble.

The ministry noted on Wednesday that 54 dead bodies were transported to hospitals in the past 24 hours, 53 of them retrieved from destroyed buildings, along with 19 wounded.

Meanwhile, civil defence crews in the enclave announced that while searching through the rubble, they retrieved over 66 bodies on Tuesday and another 62 on Monday.

“We are waiting for difficult and arduous tasks represented in searching for the bodies of more than 10,000 martyrs, who are still under the rubble of destroyed homes, buildings and facilities, not registered in the martyrs’ statistics,” they said in a press release on Sunday.

Civil defence forces themselves have suffered tremendous loss, with about 48 percent of their staff killed, wounded or imprisoned.

After over 15 months of war, Palestinians are uncovering the mass destruction wrought by Israel onto the enclave, with the most recent statistics from the government media office on Tuesday placing the estimate of bombs dropped on Gaza at 100,000 tonnes of explosives.

The bombing campaign has destroyed 88 percent of the strip’s infrastructure and residential areas, including homes, sewage networks, electricity grids and water lines.

Israeli forces have violated the provisions of the ceasefire agreement several times since it came into effect on Sunday morning.

The Israeli army has carried out several attacks across the strip, firing live bullets and directly targeting civilians, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Reports have also emerged of booby traps being placed in houses and other infrastructure just hours before the truce began, including one instance in a ​​​​​home in northern Gaza that left several people wounded.

Wafa correspondents confirmed on Sunday that 10 Palestinians were admitted to al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City after being injured by unexploded ordnance left behind by Israeli forces near the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.

The Israeli army has completely destroyed 161,600 housing units, rendered 81,000 homes uninhabitable and partially destroyed 194,000 others, according to the latest government office assessments.

Around 216 government headquarters and 42 sports facilities were also damaged during Israel’s 15-month bombardment.

The educational sector has been severely impacted, with 137 schools and universities completely destroyed and 357 partially demolished.

Religious infrastructure in the enclave was also targeted, with three churches and over 832 mosques destroyed. Additionally, 206 archaeological and heritage sites were wrecked during Israel’s shelling campaign.

Gaza’s water networks have also been largely damaged, with around 330,000m of infrastructure left in ruins.