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Nearly 100,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s war on Gaza, representing about 4 per cent of the territory’s population, Anadolu Agency reported on Friday, citing the Israeli daily Haaretz.
According to the report, this figure sharply contradicts the official death toll released by Gaza’s Health Ministry, which stood at over 56,300 since October 2023.
Haaretz, as cited by Anadolu, noted that in addition to deaths caused directly by Israeli attacks, many have died from indirect consequences of the war — including hunger, cold, and disease — amid the collapse of Gaza’s health system.
The daily also noted that while Israeli officials and media figures routinely dismiss Gaza’s death toll as exaggerated, international experts increasingly consider the figures not only credible but potentially understated.
Among them is Professor Michael Spagat, an economist at Royal Holloway, University of London, and a leading expert on mortality in violent conflicts. Haaretz, as cited by Anadolu, said Spagat and his team conducted a survey of 2,000 households in Gaza, covering approximately 10,000 individuals.
Their findings concluded that as of January 2025, an estimated 75,200 people had died violently in the war — the vast majority from Israeli munitions. According to the data, 56 per cent of those killed were either women or children under 18.
“That’s an exceptional figure when compared with almost every other conflict since World War II,” Haaretz reported, as cited by Anadolu.
Spagat further stated that the Gaza war ranks “as one of the bloodiest conflicts of the 21st century” when measured by civilian casualty ratios and deaths relative to population size.
Even when compared to other deadly conflicts — such as Syria, Ukraine, Sudan, and Ethiopia — the proportion of women and children killed in Gaza is significantly higher: over double that of Kosovo (20 per cent), Syria (20 per cent), Sudan (23 per cent), and northern Ethiopia (9 per cent).
“I think we’re probably at something like 4 per cent of the population killed,” Spagat was quoted as saying. “I’m not sure that there’s another case in the 21st century that’s reached that high.”
Since October 2023, the Israeli army has carried out a devastating military campaign in Gaza despite repeated international calls for a ceasefire, Anadolu notes.
In November, the report adds, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over its conduct in the war, according to the report.