According to the military official, the toll does not include bodies believed to be buried under the rubble in Gaza, which Hamas estimates at around 10,000.<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n The Gaza ministry also claims that at least 440 Palestinians died of malnutrition and starvation in the Strip during the war. Israel denies this, with the military official claiming that these statistics are manipulated by Hamas to include individuals with underlying severe health issues.<\/p>\n \t The Gaza health ministry\u2019s records include the names and IDs of over 90 percent of the bodies found. They do not differentiate between civilians and combatants.<\/p>\n Israel never refuted the Hamas health ministry\u2019s data with its own exact figures, instead periodically offering rough ratios of civilians to combatants killed, insisting that the ratio was far lower than in other urban warfare conflicts.<\/p>\n During previous wars, however, Israeli security agencies found the Hamas-run health ministry\u2019s total death counts to be reliable.<\/p>\n Before the October 2025 ceasefire, the IDF said it had killed at least 22,000 combatants, as well as another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught.<\/p>\n IDF officials also previously said that the combatant-to-civilian death ratio remained relatively the same throughout the war, with two to three civilians killed for every dead terror operative.<\/p>\n Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza\u2019s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas, including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tPalestinians mourn over the bodies of people reported killed in an Israeli army strike, during their funeral outside Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025. (AP Photo\/Jehad Alshrafi)<\/p>\n
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