Nadine Osman
US health workers estimate death toll in Gaza is 119,000, approximately 5.4 percent of Gaza’s population.
In a letter sent to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on October 2, 99 health workers who have volunteered in Gaza wrote that Israel has likely already killed over 118,908 Palestinians in Gaza.
This is approximately 5.4 percent of Gaza’s population, meaning Israel has killed 1 of every 20 Palestinians in the Strip in less than a year, according to this estimate.
The workers calculated this based on estimates from food insecurity researchers on the death toll caused by famine; rough estimates of deaths by disease; and other estimates of deaths that Gaza health officials are unable to count.
“President Biden and Vice President Harris, we wish you could see the nightmares that plague so many of us since we have returned: dreams of children maimed and mutilated by our weapons, and their inconsolable mothers begging us to save them,” the workers wrote. “We wish you could hear the cries and screams our consciences will not let us forget. We cannot fathom why you continue arming the country that is deliberately killing these children en masse.”
The workers, who collectively spent 254 weeks in Gaza, highlight the devastating effects of Israel’s actions on children. They note that, according to official reports, Israel has killed at least 2,100 infants and toddlers since October 7—a figure exceeding the total number of Israeli deaths from the First and Second Intifadas, as well as the October 7 attack.
Their calculation of the death toll is an update from a version of the same letter sent in July, in which 45 workers in the group estimated that the toll then stood at least 92,000.
The true death toll of the Israeli Defence Forces attacks in Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, may not be known for many years, if it is ever fully uncovered.
The estimate of 119,000 is low compared to other experts’ estimates; University of Edinburgh global public health chair Devi Sridhar estimated last month that the death toll could be 335,000, while The Lancet medical journal published an estimate of deaths in Gaza from several respected scientists estimated that about 186,000 people were killed in Gaza by mid-June 2024 since October 7, 2023, which is roughly 7.9% of its population.
Photo: Relatives of Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks on Khan Yunis, Gaza, grieve as the bodies are transported to Nasser Hospital on October 3.
(Credit: Abed Rahim Khatib/AA)
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