Gaza war death toll surpasses 100,000: German study

A new study by Germany’s Max Planck Institute has revealed that the actual number of people killed in Israel’s two-year-long assault on the Gaza Strip is significantly higher than official estimates, with fatalities surpassing 100,000.

According to a report published Tuesday (25 November) by Anadolu Ajansi, citing German weekly Die Zeit, the research indicates that between 99,997 and 125,915 people have been killed in Gaza since the conflict began—an average estimate of around 112,000 deaths.

Irina Chien, co-leader of the research project, stated, “The exact number of deaths will never be fully known. We tried to provide an estimate as close to reality as possible.”

Researchers combined data from Gaza’s Health Ministry with independent household surveys and verified death notices posted on social media. While the Health Ministry has reported 67,173 deaths over two years, Die Zeit notes the official figures are generally conservative, with no evidence of manipulation. Instead, many deaths—such as bodies trapped under rubble or fatalities that went unregistered due to hospital collapse—are believed to be absent from official counts.

The study also provides a demographic breakdown: 27% of the dead were children under 15, and 24% were women.

Beyond the death toll, the research highlights a catastrophic decline in life expectancy in Gaza. Before the war, average life expectancy stood at 77 years for women and 74 years for men. By 2024, those figures have plummeted to 46 and 36 years, respectively.

The findings, the researchers say, underscore how perilous everyday life has become for Gaza’s civilian population over the past two years.