The current conflict in Gaza has cost the lives of 40,000 Palestinians with at least 16,456 being children and over 11,000 being women as reported by Gaza Health Ministry on Thursday. This figure however is thought to be conservative because thousands of Palestinians have been declared missing and are said to be trapped under the debris of collapsed structures. 

 The depressing figure emerged as the Israel-Hamas kept on claiming lives in Gaza as latest truce negotiations began in Doha, Qatar. These sensitive negotiations, facilitated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States aim at ceasing further fighting, but the condition on the ground is pretty critical. 

 “Can you comprehend 40,000? It is a doomsday figure that the world can hardly dream of,” said Aseel Matar, a Palestinian woman from Gaza. “Still, the world observes, knows, listens, and watches us every day and every minute but says nothing, and one cannot do anything about it anymore, one is tired. 

 The United Nations has said that Israeli attack has reduced two-third of the structure and establishments of the Gaza strip and more than ninety percent of the population of Gaza strip is displaced. This has caused a humanitarian crisis, and coupled with this, Israel’s severe limitation of the admission of humanitarian supplies into Gaza. 

 The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk has noted high concern and said about it, “Today, we have a dark day in the world. This unbelievable situation is the result of the regular violations of the Israeli military regarding the rules of war. 

Hani Mahmoud, an Al Jazeera correspondent who is based in Deir el-Balah in the Gaza Strip, explained that the death toll provided by the authorities is most probably understated. “Those who are still buried under the wreckage and still out there, unnamed, unclaimed, uncounて,” said the unbelievably strong Mahmoud. He also complained that nearly all families are in desperate search of their missing ones and that many of the missing had been “wiped out” because of the severity of bombings. 

 The war which started since October 2023 as a result of Hamas attack that killed several in southern Israel has been condemned internationally and accused of Genocide before the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Even though the ICJ ruled in July this year for Israel to allow provision of food and other goods to Gaza, the Strip has registered its worst off-year to the conflict. 

 On increasing severity, Gaza is now facing cases of malnutrition crises and life-threatening illnesses like poliomyelitis. Hanan Balkhy, the WHO’s regional director said that, “There must be a ceasefire even if temporary to successfully conduct such campaigns; otherwise the virus could spread further for example to neighbouring countries. ” 

 The figure given by Gaza’s Health Ministry may even be higher. A subsequent study by The Lancet medical journal estimates it at 186,000 people, which is 8% of Gaza’s population. 

 During the fight, Israel attacked schools, health care facilities, and other noncombatant objectives, alleging that Hamas used such facilities as positions of operation; most of the time, such allegations proved to be unverified. There was a grim pattern of killing children during the first ten days of August alone; Israel targeted at least five schools in Gaza, with more than 150 students killed. 

 Testimonies about the brutality of Israeli troops, such as torture, extra-judicial executions and, with varied levels of intensity in Arab countries, deliberate destruction of civilian property, have become commonplace. It has also been especially lethal to journalists, with the Committee to Protect Journalists stating that during the war, 113 media workers died, and out of this total, 108 were Palestinian. 

 The United States is a major ally of Israel and has been providing military assistance to its war effort; recent sales of weapons amount to $20 billion. This has led to opposition to the weakening rules of international law, and UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese pointed out its discriminative aspect. “A few powerful states have the capacity to decide that it [international law] can be applied to some people, but not others, and Israel is one of those it cannot be applied to,” she said in an interview with Al Jazeera.