As of 21 February 2026, at least 75,227 people (73,188+ Palestinians^[4] and 2,039+ Israelis)^{[7][8][9][10]} have been reported killed in the Gaza war according to the Gaza Health Ministry (GHM) and Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including 248 journalists and media workers,^[11] 120 academics,^[12] and over 224 humanitarian aid workers, a number that includes 179 employees of UNRWA.^[13] Scholars have estimated 80% of Palestinians killed were civilians.^[6][5][14] A study by OHCHR, which verified fatalities from three independent sources, found that 70% of the Palestinians killed in residential buildings or similar housing were women and children.^[15][16]

The majority of casualties have been in the Gaza Strip. The GHM total casualty count does not distinguish how Palestinians were killed, whether from Israeli airstrikes and artillery barrages or other means, like errant Palestinian rocket fire, but describes all casualties as victims of "Israeli aggression".^[17] Doctors in Gaza say that it largely excludes people who have died from a lack of adequate treatment, disease and other impacts from the war.^[18][19] An analysis by the Gaza Health Projections Working Group predicted thousands of excess deaths from disease and birth complications.^[20] The GHM demographic breakdown is a subset of those individually identified.^[21][22] On 31 May 2025, the GHM published the names, gender and birth date of 60,199 individual Palestinians whose identities were confirmed and continues to attempt to identify all casualties.^[23][21]

In January 2025, a peer-reviewed analysis of deaths in the Gaza war between October 2023 and 30 June 2024 was published in The Lancet. The paper estimated 64,260 deaths from traumatic injury during this period, and likely exceeding 70,000 by October 2024, with 59.1% of them being women, children and the elderly. It concluded that the GHM undercounted trauma-related deaths by 41% in its report, and also noted that its findings "underestimate the full impact of the military operation in Gaza, as they do not account for non-trauma-related deaths resulting from health service disruption, food insecurity, and inadequate water and sanitation."^[24] A comparable figure for May 2025 would be 93,000 (77,000 to 109,000), representing 4–5% of Gaza's pre-war population.^[25] Another independent peer-reviewed analysis of casualties was published in The Lancet by Michael Spagat and other researchers. They estimated 75,200 violent deaths and 8,540 excess non-violent deaths between 7 October 2023 and 5 January 2025. The estimate of violent deaths is 34.7% higher than the GHM's casualty count at the time. Of the violent deaths, the researchers estimate that 56.2% were women, children, and elderly individuals.^[26]

A survey by PCPSR reported showed over 60% of Gazans have lost family members since the war began.^[27][28] Thousands of more dead bodies are thought to be under the rubble of destroyed buildings.^[29][30] The number of injured is greater than 100,000;^[31] United Nations agencies have reported an unprecedented surge in amputations during the conflict and that Gaza is home to the highest number of child amputees per capita in the world.^[32]

The October 7 attacks on Israel killed 1,195 people, including 815 civilians.^[1][33] Casualties have also occurred in other parts of Israel, as well as in southern Lebanon,^[34] Syria,^[35] Yemen,^[36] and Iran.^[37]