In numbers · 99 figures

The Gaza war in numbers

The figures that carry the argument of Pariah: How Gaza Broke Israel, collected in one place with the source the book gives for each: UN agencies, the courts, the Gaza Health Ministry, medical charities, media monitors, pollsters and investigative reporters. Where the book states a figure without naming a source, the table says so.

How to read these figures

Every number is given as printed in the book, with the date the book attaches to it. The war’s figures moved constantly, so the same measure appears at more than one date where the book records it that way. Casualty totals rely on the Palestinian Health Ministry, the only comprehensive count, which WHO and UN agencies have validated and which is widely considered an undercount: thousands remain under rubble, and indirect deaths from hunger and disease are not in the official totals.

The chapter reference shows where in the book each figure is discussed and cited. The full text is free to read, so every entry can be checked against its context.

The human toll

Figure	What it measures	Source, as the book gives it
Over 70,000	Palestinians killed in Gaza by late 2025 (official figures; the actual toll is described as likely significantly higher)	Palestinian Health Ministry, validated by WHO and UN agencies; in early 2026 Israeli media cited a senior security source saying the military accepts more than 70,000Reference section
Over 50,000	Direct deaths recorded as of March 2025	Gaza Health MinistryChapter 6
More than 44,000	Palestinians officially documented as killed by 20 November 2024	Riyad Mansour, Palestinian envoy, at the UN Security CouncilChapter 8
Over 15,000, nearly half children	Killed by mid-November 2023	Gaza Health MinistryChapter 4
31,000 killed · 72,000 wounded	Casualties as of 7 March 2024	Senator Bernie Sanders, US SenateChapter 5
Over 100,000	Estimated Palestinians killed by mid-2025, including bodies under rubble and indirect deaths	Professor Michael Spagat (estimate)Chapter 10
186,000	Potential total excess deaths	The LancetChapter 6
Over 11,000	People missing in Gaza; modelling studies and rights groups put the range at 15,000–38,000	UN figures; modelling studiesChapter 10
Around 2,100	Israelis killed across all fronts since October 2023	Stated in the book’s reference section without a named sourceReference section
1,400 → 1,139	Israeli dead on 7 October 2023: the early estimate and the later revised figure	Stated in the book without a named sourceChapter 3
At least 54 · about 20	Israeli hostages endangered by IDF operations under the Hannibal Directive on 7 October; hostages killed as a result	Haaretz investigation, mid-2024Chapter 3

Children

Figure	What it measures	Source, as the book gives it
Around 20,000	Palestinian children killed by the beginning of 2026	Estimates compiled from humanitarian sources including Save the Children and UNICEFChapter 10
Approximately 1,900	Palestinian children killed between 7 and 31 October 2023, more than in the worst year of the Syrian war	Norman FinkelsteinChapter 10
18,457	Palestinian children named on the Brooklyn “Wall of Tears” mural, killed October 2023 to July 2025	The muralChapter 7
Up to 21,000	Children missing	Save the Children (estimate)Chapter 10
More than 60,000	Children suffering acute malnutrition by April 2025	Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights MonitorChapter 10
More than 9,300	Children hospitalised for severe acute malnutrition in October 2025, two months after the ceasefire	UNICEFChapter 10
About 8,300	Pregnant and breastfeeding women hospitalised for acute malnutrition in October 2025	UNICEFChapter 10
At least 67	Children killed since the 10 October 2025 ceasefire took effect, nearly two a day	UNICEFChapter 11
44 of 65	American health workers who served in Gaza and reported seeing multiple pre-teen children shot in the head or chest	Collective account published in the New York TimesChapter 10
Stock zero of 42%	Share of vaccines at zero stock in Gaza	Hanan Balkhy, WHO Regional DirectorChapter 10

Journalists, aid workers and medics

Figure	What it measures	Source, as the book gives it
Over 250	Journalists killed in Gaza, 2023–2026: the highest toll for the profession in any conflict	The UNVisual record; Afterword
132 journalists · 364 health workers · 165 UN staff	Killed by April 2024	Senator Bernie SandersChapter 5
More than 100	UNRWA staff killed by late 2024	UNRWAChapter 6
More than 1,200 · at least 384	Healthcare workers killed since 7 October 2023; healthcare workers detained	Healthcare Workers WatchChapter 11
12	Médecins Sans Frontières colleagues killed while clearly marked as medical personnel	Dr Natalie Roberts, MSFChapter 6
136	Attacks on healthcare facilities in the first three months	World Health OrganisationChapter 6
94%	Gaza hospitals destroyed or damaged by May 2025	World Health OrganisationChapter 10
Over 300	Direct attacks on schools and hospitals, many bearing the blast signatures of US-made JDAMs	Amnesty InternationalChapter 6
At least 11	Journalists in Britain subjected to terrorism-related detention since October 2023	Freedom of Information disclosures, September 2024Chapter 4

Hunger, water and aid

Figure	What it measures	Source, as the book gives it
100% · over 700,000	Population facing acute food insecurity; people in catastrophic hunger (December 2024)	Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC)Chapter 6
3 litres v 50	Average water available per person per day, against the humanitarian minimum	The United NationsChapter 6
77% · 100,000 children	Population still facing acute food insecurity after the ceasefire; children among them	World Health OrganizationChapter 11
97 v 500	Aid trucks entering per day in March 2024, against the pre-war daily flow	Senator Bernie SandersChapter 5
About 6,000	Aid trucks blocked by Israel: enough food and relief for three months	UNRWAChapter 11
Less than 5%	Share of aid offloaded that consisted of medical supplies	Medical Aid for PalestiniansChapter 11
1 CT scanner · 0 MRI	Functioning imaging machines left in Gaza	Stated in the book without a named sourceChapter 11

Homes, displacement and the economy

Figure	What it measures	Source, as the book gives it
81%	Housing stock destroyed or severely damaged	UN agenciesChapter 11
70% · 1.7 million	Housing units damaged or destroyed; people displaced (March 2024)	Senator Bernie SandersChapter 5
Over 145	Cultural heritage sites damaged or destroyed	UNESCOVisual record
98% · 2 of 94	Banking infrastructure damaged or disabled; ATMs still working (early 2026)	Humanitarian agencies (estimate)Chapter 11
Uninhabitable by 2020	Warning issued eight years before the war about the effect of the blockade and three military operations in six years	UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)Chapter 1
97%	Gaza’s water supply unfit for human consumption before the war	UNICEFChapter 1
Over 60%	Youth unemployment in Gaza before the war	World BankChapter 1
Over 1,000	Deaths of critically ill patients denied exit permits, 2018–2022	Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur, 2022 reportChapter 2

Families erased

Figure	What it measures	Source, as the book gives it
More than 2,700	Extended families completely removed from Gaza’s civil registry since October 2023, after three generations of one household were killed	Al Jazeera analysis of the civil registry, 26 January 2026Chapter 10
More than 8,000	People killed within those erased families	Al Jazeera analysisChapter 10
About 40,000	Families directly targeted, averaging more than four deaths per household	Al Jazeera analysisChapter 10
More than 6,000	Families left with a single surviving member	Al Jazeera analysisChapter 10
1 and 101	Ages of the youngest and oldest recorded victims among the erased families	Al Jazeera analysisChapter 10

Detention and torture

Figure	What it measures	Source, as the book gives it
3,474	Palestinians held in administrative detention, late September 2025	UN Committee Against TortureChapter 6
At least 75	Palestinian detainees who died in Israeli custody from the start of the war to August 2025, described as an “abnormally high” toll	The United NationsChapter 6
At least 98	Palestinian deaths in Israeli custody during the Gaza war	Physicians for Human Rights IsraelReference section
At least 29	Deaths at the Sde Teiman detention facility	Multiple investigationsReference section
One conviction · seven months	Torture-related convictions found, and the sentence handed down	UN Committee Against TortureChapter 6
At least 2,214	Gazans held under Israel’s Unlawful Combatants Law	Rights groups (estimate)Chapter 10
Around 335	Bullets fired into the car in which six-year-old Hind Rajab died, 29 January 2024	Forensic analysesChapter 6

The legal record

Figure	What it measures	Source, as the book gives it
26 January 2024	ICJ finds South Africa’s genocide allegations “plausible” and orders provisional measures	International Court of JusticeChapter 6
21 November 2024	ICC issues arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant	International Criminal CourtReference section
10–1	ICJ advisory opinion margin finding Israel had breached the Geneva Conventions, 23 October 2025	International Court of JusticeChapter 6
Four	Genocidal acts for which the State of Israel was found responsible, 29 October 2025	UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry (Navi Pillay)Chapter 6
37	Senior Israeli officials, including Netanyahu, named in arrest warrants issued on 7 November 2025	Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s OfficeChapter 6
More than 60	Legal complaints filed across Europe by the Hind Rajab Foundation by November 2025	Hind Rajab Foundation’s published filingsChapter 6; Reference section
120 pages · 24	Dossier submitted to the ICC over Hind Rajab’s killing, and the soldiers and commanders it names	Hind Rajab FoundationChapter 6
38	Violations of international humanitarian law by Israel in Gaza documented in an internal EU report, July 2025	European External Action ServiceChapter 8
2.3 million · up to 20	People scanned by the Lavender targeting system; civilian deaths authorised per suspected low-ranking Hamas member	Soldiers speaking to Yuval Abraham, +972 Magazine / Local CallChapter 6
153 v 10	UN General Assembly vote demanding an end to the bombardment after the US vetoes of late 2023	Stated in the book without a named sourceChapter 8

Arms and complicity

Figure	What it measures	Source, as the book gives it
$18 billion · $12 billion	US military aid to Israel in one year; further aid approved	Senator Bernie SandersChapter 9
Nearly $4.2 billion	US military equipment delivered to Israel, October 2023 to May 2025	Center for International PolicyChapter 11
More than 8,630	Munitions sent from the UK to Israel between September 2024 and February 2025, after Parliament was told exports were suspended	Trade data reported by Matt Kennard, Drop Site NewsChapter 6
29	UK arms export licences to Israel announced as suspended, September 2024	David Lammy, to ParliamentChapter 6
1,716	Palestinians killed during the five weeks Labour delayed suspending exports after concluding UK arms could be used in war crimes	Court filingsChapter 6
47%	Share of all reconnaissance missions over Gaza flown by the RAF, “more than double Israel itself”	Matt Kennard, Gaza TribunalChapter 6
91% · 878 tons a week	Share of Israel-bound military sea cargo not routed through US bases that passed through one Jersey City warehouse; its average weekly sea cargo, January to August 2025	Palestinian Youth Movement and Progressive International investigation, November 2025Chapter 11
Around 90%	Share of TNT imported by the United States for bomb production supplied by Poland’s Nitro-Chem	Investigation “The Missing Ingredient: Polish TNT”Chapter 9
More than 1,400	Israeli intelligence veterans working in US technology firms	Murtaza Hussain, investigative reportingChapter 9

How the war was reported

Figure	What it measures	Source, as the book gives it
35,000	Items of BBC content from the first year of the war analysed	Centre for Media MonitoringChapter 5
33×	More BBC coverage per Israeli fatality than per Palestinian fatality, while 34 times more Palestinians were killed	Centre for Media MonitoringChapter 5
220 v 1	Uses of the word “murder” for Israeli victims against Palestinian victims	Centre for Media MonitoringChapter 5
2,350 v 1,085	Israelis against Palestinians interviewed by the BBC	Centre for Media MonitoringChapter 5
2,340 v 217	Presenter references to “the Israeli perspective” against “the Palestinian perspective”	Centre for Media MonitoringChapter 5
More than 10.6 million	Pieces of violent content posted by Hebrew-language users in 2023, three-quarters of it on X	7amlehChapter 4
23 a minute	Violent or hateful Hebrew-language posts after 7 October, roughly one every 2.1 seconds	7amlehChapter 4
One	BBC reports on RAF surveillance flights over Gaza in an entire year	Mark Curtis, Declassified UKChapter 4

Opinion and dissent

Figure	What it measures	Source, as the book gives it
32% v 60%	Americans approving and disapproving of Israel’s war, July 2025: its lowest standing in modern history	GallupChapter 9
12% v 60%	Democrats sympathising more with Israelis than Palestinians, and the reverse	Gallup, July 2025Chapter 9
62% v 29%	Median unfavourable and favourable views of Israel across 24 countries, 2025	Pew ResearchChapter 10
1,630 of 1,886	Terrorism-related arrests in Britain linked to Palestine Action by the end of September 2025: almost nine in ten	Official UK government statisticsChapter 7
More than 2,700	People arrested for expressing support for Palestine Action by the end of 2025	Human rights organisations and civil society monitoring groupsChapter 7
211 · about 1,650	EU staff signing a letter to the EU leadership (May 2024); European civil servants signing an open letter (August 2025)	The Guardian; Le MondeChapter 9
More than 300	FCDO staff who wrote internal letters warning of complicity and were told resignation was their “ultimate recourse”	The Guardian, June 2025Chapter 9
53%	Multinational tech firms in Israel reporting a sharp rise in employee requests to relocate abroad, December 2025	Israel Advanced Technology Industries AssociationChapter 8
At least 421	Palestinian footballers killed since the assault began	Game Over Israel and Athletes 4 PeaceChapter 10

Before 7 October

Figure	What it measures	Source, as the book gives it
Over 750,000 · more than 500	Palestinians expelled or fled in 1948; villages destroyed	Israeli, Palestinian and international historiansReference section
91	People killed in the Irgun’s bombing of the King David Hotel, 22 July 1946: 28 British, 41 Arabs, 17 Jews	Stated in the book without a named sourceChapter 2
69 · 45 houses	Palestinians killed and houses destroyed at Qibya, 1953	Stated in the book without a named sourceChapter 2
Over 1,400 · over 2,100 · 260+	Palestinians killed in Operation Cast Lead (2008–09), Protective Edge (2014) and Guardian of the Walls (2021)	Stated in the book without a named sourceChapter 2; Reference section
Over 200	Palestinian demonstrators killed by Israeli snipers during the Great March of Return, 2018–2019	Stated in the book without a named sourceReference section
2.5 million	“When 2.5 million people live in a closed-off Gaza, it’s going to be a human catastrophe”	Arnon Soffer, 2004 interview with The Jerusalem PostChapter 1

The record behind the numbers

Each figure above sits inside a chapter of evidence: 479 pages drawing on more than 550 of the author’s Gaza reports since 2024, eyewitness testimony, government and UN records and Palestinian-created digital archives. Free to read; available in paperback, hardback and eBook.

Read it free – PDF or EPUB The timeline Inside the book