Casualties
- 40,005 + killed* and at least 92,401 wounded in the Gaza Strip. The identities of 32,280 of the slain have been identified, including 10,627 children and 5,956 women, representing 60% of the casualties, and 2,770 elderly, as of August 6, 2024. Some 10,000 more are estimated to be under the rubble*
- 632+ Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. This includes 140 children.**
- Israel revised its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,140.
- 690 Israeli soldiers and officers have been recognized as killed, and 4096 as wounded by the Israeli army, since October 7.***
* Gaza’s branch of the Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed this figure in its daily report, published through its WhatsApp channel on August 15, 2024. Rights groups and public health experts estimate the death toll to be much higher.
** The death toll in the West Bank and Jerusalem is not updated regularly. This is the latest figure according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health as of August 15.
*** These figures are released by the Israeli military, showing the soldiers whose names “were allowed to be published.” Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot reported on August 4, 2024, that some 10,000 Israeli soldiers and officers have been either killed or wounded since October 7. The head of the Israeli army’s wounded association told Israel’s Channel 12 that the number of wounded Israeli soldiers exceeds 20,000, including at least 8,000 who have been permanently handicapped as of June 1. Israel’s Channel 7 reported that according to the Israeli war ministry’s rehabilitation service numbers, 8,663 new wounded joined the army’s handicap rehabilitation system since October 7 and as of June 18.
Key Developments
- Gaza Health Ministry says death toll surpasses 40,000 since October 7, including 33% children, 18.4% women, and 8.6% elderly; at least 115 Palestinian children born and killed by Israeli forces since October 7.
- New round of talks starts in Doha, Qatar, in new attempt by U.S., Egypt, and Qatar to conclude ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal between Hamas and Israel.
- Some 2000 Israeli settlers storm al-Aqsa Mosque compound with participation of Israeli National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir.
- White House envoy Amos Hockstein holds talks in Beirut with Lebanese officials ahead of ceasefire talks in Doha, says U.S. believes ceasefire in Gaza will help defuse tensions between Lebanon and Israel.
- White House advisor John Kirby says beginning of ceasefire talks on Thursday was “promising.”
- Al-Qassam Brigades announces one Israeli captive killed and two others wounded by guard in retribution for death of his two children in Israeli strike; spokesman Abu Obaida says killing of captive went against Hamas orders and contradicted Islamic values, releases photo of allegedly slain captive.
- Israeli army says no evidence of al-Qassam’s claims, says released photo is of dead captive whose body was released during November prisoner swap.
- Families of Israeli captives protest in front of Likud party headquarters and other locations, demand Israeli negotiators not return without concluding prisoner exchange deal.
- Israeli forces kill two Palestinians, wound seven in military raid on Balata refugee camp in Nablus.
- Hezbollah attacks Israeli positions on Mount Miron in upper Galilee while Israeli airstrikes target southern Lebanese towns of Taybeh and Deir Siryan.
40,000 Palestinians killed since October
More than 40,000 Palestinians have been confirmed to have been killed by Israeli forces since October 7, according to Thursday’s daily report by the Palestinian health ministry’s branch in Gaza.
According to the ministry, 33% of the slain were children, at least 115 of whom were killed on the same day they were born. Some 18.4% were women, and 8.6% were elderly. The ministry estimated that some 10,000 Palestinians are missing under the rubble and that the real number of slain Palestinians might reach 50,000 in little more than 10 months.
For his part, the UN commissioner for human rights, Volker Turk, said that the death toll of Israel’s assault on Gaza “marks a grim milestone for the world,” adding that “this unimaginable situation is overwhelmingly due to recurring failures by Israeli defense forces to comply with the rules of war.”
On Tuesday, the Director of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Lisa Doughten, said in a briefing at the UN Security Council that “more than 60% of residential buildings and 65 percent of the road network have been damaged or destroyed, according to recent UN analysis.”
Doughten added that “in just two weeks, more than a quarter of a million people have been displaced, often on multiple occasions,” and that “evacuation orders — supposedly for civilians’ security — are clearly having the opposite outcome.”
According to the UN humanitarian official, “Civilians are repeatedly asked to evacuate to areas where essentials for their survival are absent,” and “they are repeatedly being killed and injured in the very places they have been told were safe to go.”
According to the Committee for the Protection of Journalists, some 108 Palestinian journalists and two Lebanese journalists have been killed by Israeli airstrikes since October 7, while the UN affirmed that some 500 medical workers have been killed by Israeli strikes.
The ongoing Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip has resulted in the destruction of 63% of Gaza’s residential areas, including some 215,000 housing units and all four Gaza’s universities, while it has completely disabled 36 hospitals or medical centers. Only 12 medical centers remain partially functional amidst a severe lack of medical supplies and fuel for power generators, treating more than 92,000 wounded and tens of thousands of other patients.
New round of talks starts in Doha
A new round of ceasefire talks began today in Doha, Qatar, in a last-ditch attempt by the U.S. to reach a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal between Hamas and Israel. The new round of talks came after the U.S., Egypt, and Qatar issued a joint statement last week calling to renew negotiations. White House advisor John Kirby described the beginning of the negotiations in Doha as “promising.”
The calls for renewing ceasefire talks came amid threats by Iran and Hezbollah to respond to Israel’s assassination of Hezbollah’s top commander in Beirut and Hamas’s politburo chief in Tehran in late July.
News of the talks was met with skepticism, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been accused of evading and even sabotaging the chances for a deal, with The New York Times revealing that the Prime Minister had been maneuvering to make a deal impossible over the past months.
According to reports, Netanyahu has added new conditions to the talks, including the permanence of Israeli troops in the Philadelphi corridor along Egypt’s border, vetting displaced Palestinians before their return to their homes in the northern strip, and allowing Israel to veto the release of high-ranking Palestinian prisoners and deporting the ones who are released.
Hamas, for its part, declared in a statement last week that it was not interested in new negotiations, but rather demanded mediators to discuss an implementation plan for the deal proposed by U.S. President Biden in late May, which Hamas accepted in early July.
Israel’s Channel 12 reported that the U.S. has intensified its pressure on Netanyahu since Wednesday to widen the powers of the negotiating team. On Wednesday, Israeli media reported that Netanyahu decided to send the negotiating team to Doha on Thursday in its full formation, after widening its authority to negotiate.
The families of Israeli captives in Gaza protested in front of the headquarters of Netanyahu’s Likud party headquarters, demanding that Israeli negotiators not return without a deal. However, Thursday’s meeting is meant to be the beginning of a new round of talks, not the conclusion of a deal, as a U.S. official told Axios earlier this week.
“Talks” are Israel’s way of stalling while they reload.