Tamer Hassan al-Shafai eats an iftar meal, the breaking of the fast, with his family in their destroyed house amid the rubble of buildings in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip on March 4, 2025, during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan. Bashar T
The horrible toll of Israel's genocide in Gaza is still being revealed. There are also at least 3,400 families with only one surviving member, Palestinian officials have said.
Originally published in Truthout.
The Israeli military completely wiped out at least 1,200 Palestinian families in Gaza in its genocide, a new analysis finds, shedding more light on the staggering and permanent toll of Israel’s extermination campaign.
A Reuters analysis of data from the Gaza Health Ministry found that at least 1,238 families — defined as married couples and any children they may have — were totally erased, with no survivors. Families with between five and nine members make up roughly a third of the families wiped out. In at least one case, Israeli forces massacred every member of a family of 14.
Further, almost a quarter of Palestinians in the official death toll of over 48,000 people were 12 years old or younger, while nearly a third were under 18, the report found. There are roughly 8,000 people in the death tally for whom there is no identifying information like age or gender.
Over 2,200 in the official death toll were under two years old when they were slaughtered by Israeli forces, the analysis found.
It’s possible that even more families were wiped out in the genocide, as experts have repeatedly stressed that the true death toll is far higher than the official count.
This analysis roughly lines up with that of Gaza health officials, who reported late last year that Israel has caused over 1,400 families to be wiped from the civil registry. Further, officials found that there were at least 3,400 families who had lost all but one member to Israeli attacks.
This is the experience of 13-year-old Mohammed Al-Agha, Reuters documented. Agha lost both his parents, his brother and two sisters — aged 11, 10 and 8 — during the genocide.
Palestinian father Abdelsalam Al-Banna, the publication documented, is also the only surviving member of his family unit. His 9-year-old daughter, 5-year-old son and wife were killed in an Israeli airstrike on their apartment building on December 15, 2023.
He spent a week surviving under the rubble of the building, he said. He and two of his in-laws found their way out from the dark ruins after feeling an air pocket — but the bodies of his wife and children are still buried under the rubble, with Israel blocking heavy equipment from entering Gaza. “Nothing is more painful than this. I can’t put them to rest,” Banna said.
Because he and other members of his family escaped from the rubble, Banna was able to report the deaths of his wife and children to health officials, and therefore have their deaths tallied in the toll.
But Gaza officials estimate that there are at least 14,000 people whose bodies are still stuck under the rubble and are excluded from the death toll. Last month, the Gaza Government Information Office said that officials believe, with those deaths included, the true death toll from Israeli attacks is at least 61,709 people.
Sharon Zhang is a news writer at Truthout covering politics, climate and labor. Before coming to Truthout, Sharon had written stories for Pacific Standard, The New Republic, and more. She has a master’s degree in environmental studies. She can be found on Twitter and Bluesky.
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