Since October 2023 and the start of Israel’s ongoing attacks on Gaza, the confirmed death toll has exceeded 73,000, according to the UN, although the actual number is expected to be higher.
The Red Cross has received more than 5,000 requests to trace missing people, while Gaza’s Civil Defence estimates that more than 8,000 remain missing.
Meanwhile, the bodies of Palestinians continue to be recovered daily from beneath the rubble across Gaza.
Of the more than 73,000 people killed, 1,200 were killed after the ceasefire took effect on 10 October 2025, while 1,300 Palestinians remain held in Israeli prisons.
Recovering bodies remains difficult due to the scale of the destruction and a shortage of excavators.
In many cases, identifying remains is also difficult because some people died long ago and access to DNA testing is limited by Israeli restrictions on what can enter Gaza.
Over nearly three years of war in Gaza, Israeli forces have detained around 7,000 Palestinians from the territory, more than 5,000 of whom were later released.
According to HaMoked and other human rights organisations, Palestinian families have often not been informed by Israel about the detention or whereabouts of their relatives, forcing many to rely on NGOs and lawyers to locate them.
Source: BBC
