By SCM Staff Writer I Oct. 27, 2025
BEIRUT — Despite a fragile cease-fire that went into effect earlier this month, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza reported on Monday that the death toll has climbed by nearly 100 people in the last two weeks, highlighting the continuing human cost of the conflict and the challenges of recovery in the devastated enclave.
The ministry’s latest statistical report noted that 93 people had been documented as killed, and 337 injured, since the cease-fire’s effective date on October 11.
Over the last 48 hours alone, the report said, eight people had been confirmed dead and 13 injured after arriving at Gaza hospitals.
The new figures bring the total number of dead since the conflict’s start on October 7, 2023, to 68,527, with 170,395 injuries, according to the ministry. The figures, which do not differentiate between combatants and civilians, could not be independently verified but are consistent with the overwhelming casualty counts reported by the ministry throughout the fighting.
Crucially, the report stated that an unspecified number of victims remain inaccessible to ambulance and civil defense crews, trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings and along roads blocked by debris from the prolonged Israeli military operation. The inability of rescue teams to reach these areas suggests the final death toll will continue to rise as recovery efforts are able to progress.
The accumulation of new casualties comes as international efforts continue to shore up the cease-fire, a U.S.-brokered agreement intended to pave the way for a more permanent peace, increased humanitarian aid, and a final exchange of hostages and prisoners.
Another data point in the grim accounting of the dead was the slow process of identifying remains.
The ministry noted that 72 bodies have so far been identified out of 195 corpses that were released and received from the Israeli military, which the ministry refers to as “the occupation.”
The transfer and identification of remains is often a contentious aspect of cease-fire negotiations, essential for providing closure to families across the territory.
The United Nations and other international aid groups have repeatedly warned that the humanitarian situation remains catastrophic, with food shortages and widespread disease compounding the immediate threat of violence, even as aid flows have somewhat increased since the truce.
The latest casualty figures underline the precarious nature of the calm and the immense task of accounting for the war’s victims.
