Deaths, injuries and missing persons

Despite the ceasefire agreement that entered into effect in October 2025, Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip have continued, including during the weeks of the war with Iran from late February until early April 2026.

According to figures released by the Gaza Ministry of Health, which are backed by names and ID numbers and recognized as reliable by international research bodies and even by the Israeli military, from the start of the ceasefire until April 26, 2026, 811 people were killed and 2,278 were injured by Israeli fire. The number of people killed in Gaza from the beginning of the war in October 2023 until April 26, 2026, was 72,587, 45% of whom were women and children according to UN data. Another 172,381 Gazans suffer from various injuries.

The assumption is that the actual number of dead is even higher, since these figures exclude thousands of missing persons, most of whom were likely killed and their remains are still trapped under collapsed buildings. According to a report in Haaretz, as of February 2026, more than 4,000 bodies of missing persons had been located or identified in Gaza since the ceasefire agreement entered into effect, in addition to the hundreds of bodies that were held in Israel and returned to Gaza as part of the agreement. Data from the Civil Defense services in Gaza indicate that as of April 2026 about 8,000 additional bodies are still buried under the rubble in the Strip.

Just as during the war, civilians still account for an unprecedented proportion of the casualties. These include children, the elderly, and families, whom the military considers “collateral damage.” A Local Call, Guardian and +972 investigation revealed that, according to Israeli Military Intelligence Directorate estimates from May 2025, about 83% of persons killed were civilians. Israel’s permissive open-fire policy, which allows such widespread killing, has also been applied in the months since the ceasefire agreement (including on other fronts).

The large number of civilian casualties, including children, was caused by Israeli attacks that involved aerial bombardments and artillery fire. In addition, hundreds of residents, including children, have been shot because they approached the Yellow Line or accidentally crossed it. Even in cases when Israel claims that military action was carried out in response to violations of the ceasefire agreement by Hamas, the attacks are not confined to the location from which Hamas operated but are instead directed at various areas of the Strip. For example, on February 4, 2026, in response to Hamas fire and the injury of an Israeli officer, the military carried out simultaneous strikes in several densely populated areas, killing 21 Palestinians, including several children, one of them a five month old infant.

For ongoing updates:

Gisha – Gaza: Facts and Figures