More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, the territory's Health Ministry said Thursday. Israel's offensive has also wounded 92,401 people and displaced over 85% of the population from their homes, said the ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, which does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its toll, per the AP. The toll represents nearly 2% of Gaza's prewar population, or one in every 50 people, the Guardian reports, noting bodies buried under rubble and those of people who've died from starvation or the collapse of the healthcare system aren't counted.
A volunteer gravedigger in Gaza's Deir al-Balah cemetery says to make room for all the dead, "sometimes we make graves on top of graves," per the AP. Some bodies are simply buried in backyards and parking lots, beneath staircases and along roadsides, according to witness accounts and video footage. Israel's military has dug up, plowed over, and bombed more than 20 cemeteries, according to satellite imagery analyzed by investigative outlet Bellingcat. Troops have taken scores of bodies into Israel, searching for hostages. Trucked back to Gaza, the bodies are often decomposed and unidentifiable, buried quickly in a mass grave. The announcement of 40,000 deaths came during yet another push from international mediators to broker a ceasefire in the war, now in its 11th month.
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