Gaza death toll rises close to 62,000 as missing added

Local authorities add 14,000 people, missing and presumed dead, to the list.

Authorities in Gaza have updated the death toll from Israel’s war on the enclave to 61,709, having added thousands who are missing and now presumed dead.

The head of the Gaza Government Information Office told a news conference that the bodies of 76 percent of the Palestinians killed in the conflict have been recovered and brought to medical centres. However, at least 14,222 people are still believed to be trapped under the rubble or in areas inaccessible to rescuers.

Speaking at Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital, Salama Maarouf told reporters that among the death toll are 17,881 children, including 214 newborn infants.

“More than 2 million people have been forcibly displaced, some more than 25 times, under dire conditions lacking basic services,” the official added, noting that 111,588 people have also been injured.

‘Homes have become graveyards’

The updated numbers come amid the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that last month halted, at least temporarily, 15 months of genocide in the enclave, which followed the assault by Hamas on southern Israel in October 2023 that saw the armed group kill about 1,200 and take 250 people back to Gaza as captives.

The pause in fighting, set to continue until at least early March, has given room for Palestinian rescuers to reach parts of Gaza they could not reach before.

“Humanitarian and medical teams have shifted from rescue to recovery missions,” said Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzom, reporting from Gaza’s al-Rashid Street, a route many Palestinians are taking to head back to their northern hometowns.

“Hundreds of homes have become graveyards.”

Maarouf also noted the heavy toll on health, humanitarian and media workers in the enclave. At least 1,155 medical personnel, 205 journalists and 194 civil defence workers are reported to have been killed during Israel’s onslaught.

Phase II talks

Negotiations are about to get under way over moving to the second stage of the three-phase ceasefire. That envisages an approach to a permanent end to the war.

Mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States will open those talks today, but if they cannot bring Israel and Hamas to an agreement, fighting could resume in March.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is in Washington and plans to meet with President Donald Trump, is under pressure from far-right allies to cut the ceasefire short and continue fighting.

Netanyahu, who alongside other Israeli officials and Hamas leaders is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes, said he and Trump would discuss “victory over Hamas, achieving the release of all our hostages and dealing with the Iranian terror axis” in the Middle East.