GAZA CITY — Three years after the Hamas-led attack of Oct. 7, 2023, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage, Gaza’s death toll is climbing again even under the U.S.-brokered ceasefire of October 2025, according to health officials in the territory.
Gaza health officials say at least 1,400 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire took hold. The ministry’s figures put the Palestinian death toll since October 2023 at more than 74,250, with 175,278 injured. The figures, which are widely cited by international agencies, do not distinguish between combatants and civilians.
A Wall Street Journal military embed published Oct. 8 reported that Israel now operates more than 30 military bases in Gaza, about a third of them built since the ceasefire. The Journal described fortified outposts along the so-called “Yellow Line” dividing the territory, and said Israeli officials told its reporters that troops were clearing tunnels on the Israeli-controlled side of the line.
Journalists cannot enter Gaza independently, so the embed’s account could not be independently verified by news organizations outside the Israeli military’s media program.
The humanitarian picture remains grim ahead of winter. UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, said 235,000 displaced Gazans are sheltering in 400 flood-prone sites, with another 44,000 in unstable buildings.
