The announcement by Gaza's Health Ministry came amid another push by international mediators to broker a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas.
ADVERTISEMENTMore than more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel began its offensive in Gaza, the strip's Health Ministry said on Thursday.
Another 92,401 people have also been wounded, and 85% of the Palestinian population has been displaced, according to its count.
The Hamas-run ministry does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its death toll. The Israeli military said around 15,000 Hamas fighters were among those killed in Gaza but has not provided evidence to back the claim.
However, Gazan health officials also said they had struggled to fully identify the dead owing to the large number of bodies being brought to hospitals and morgues.
Many bodies also remain buried under the rubble of buildings destroyed in airstrikes.
Therefore, although the ministry puts the death toll at 40,005, many officials and civil defence workers believe it's likely the number is much higher.
Israel’s air and ground offensive in Gaza has been one of the most devastating in modern history, with bombardments and shelling killing entire Palestinian families.
The assault has also created a massive humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory.
The entire strip is at high risk of famine, and nearly 500,000 people — more than a fifth of the population — are expected to experience the most severe level of hunger in the next months, according to the latest report by the leading authority on measuring hunger.
Sanitation systems have also been destroyed, and bodies are buried everywhere — in backyards, along roadsides and under the staircases of homes.
The conflict began after the Hamas-led 7 October attack on Israel, when 1,200 people, most of them civilians, were killed and 250 hostages were captured.
Israel says 111 of the captives have not been released, including the bodies of 39.
Some 329 Israeli soldiers were also killed in the past 10 months of fighting.
How are death toll numbers calculated in Gaza?
The ministry is the only official source for Gaza casualties since Israel has sealed Gaza's borders, barring most foreign journalists and humanitarian workers.
The journalists that are operating in Gaza say they've seen large numbers of bodies at the sites of airstrikes, morgues and funerals.
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The UN and other international institutions and experts, as well as Palestinian authorities in the West Bank, say the Gaza ministry has long made a good-faith effort to account for the dead under the most difficult conditions.
“The numbers may not be perfectly accurate on a minute-to-minute basis,” said Michael Ryan of the WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme. “But they largely reflect the level of death and injury.”
Ceasefire efforts continue
The Health Ministry's announcement came during yet another push from international mediators to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas after 10 months of war.
The United States, Qatar and Egypt are to meet with an Israeli delegation in Qatar to attempt to progress with negotiations on a three-phase ceasefire agreement which would see an end to fighting and the return of Israeli hostages still in Gaza.
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However, Hamas has not said whether it will participate in the talks, accusing Israel of adding new demands to a previous proposal that had US and international support and to which Hamas had agreed in principle.
For example, Hamas has rejected Israel's latest demands, including a lasting military presence along the border with Egypt and a line bisecting Gaza where it would search Palestinians returning to their homes to root out militants.
Fears of a wider regional conflict also persist after Iran promised retaliation following the assassination of top Hamas political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran.
Hezbollah has also vowed to avenge the killing of its commander, Fouad Shukur, raising fears of an even more devastating sequel to the 2006 war between Israel and the militant group.
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