Ministry of Health Says 70 Percent of Palestinians Killed in Gaza Are Children and Women

JAKARTA - Children and women dominate the number of civilian deaths due to the Hamas-Israel war in the Gaza Strip, in addition to deaths from UN humanitarian workers and journalists.

In a statement Sunday, the Ramalah-based Palestinian Health Ministry said 70 percent of Palestinians killed in the Gaza region during the war were women and children.

"Around 18,800 Palestinians, 70 percent of whom were women and children, died in Gaza between October 7 and December 15, said the Ministry of Health, reported by CNN, December 18.

In a statement by the Palestinian media on Friday, among those killed, around 8,000 were children and 6,200 were women, as quoted by Anadolu.

The ministry continued that more than 300 health sector workers, 86 journalists, 135 employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), and around 35 civil defense crew were among the dead, the ministry said.

The ministry added that more than 51,100 people were reported injured and a number of others had not been found.

Further, the ministry said in its report, only eight of the 36 hospitals are partially functional in the enclave, while occupancy rates have jumped to 206 percent in inpatient departments and 250 percent in intensive care units.

As of last week (10 December), the Israel Defense Forces said it had struck more than 22,000 targets in Gaza since Hamas' attack on Israel on 7 October.

On the other hand, the death of two Israeli soldiers in fighting in Gaza on Saturday brought the number of soldiers killed since the conflict broke out in October to more than 450 people.

"The Israeli military named the two reservists who died in fighting in the Gaza Strip on Saturday as Master Sergeant Joseph Avner Doran (26) and First Sergeant Shalev Zaltsman (24)," local daily Haaretz said, citing an Israeli military spokesman.