Israel and Hamas at war: The conflict in numbers

BEIRUT - Israel launched a military offensive in Gaza after Hamas-led Palestinian militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing more than 1,200 people and seizing more than 250 as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Here is a breakdown of the effects of eight months of conflict in the Gaza Strip.

Deaths and injuries

Israel's ground and air campaign has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the latest data from the Gaza Health Ministry, with thousands more feared dead under the rubble.

More than 100,00 Palestinians, or nearly 5% of Gaza's total population of 2.3 million, have been killed or wounded during the offensive, the U.N. deputy high commissioner for human rights said in a statement in April.

Children

More than 14,000 children have been killed in Gaza, according to estimates by Palestinian health authorities that were cited in May by the U.N. children's agency. An estimated 17,000 children are unaccompanied or separated from their families, UNICEF said.

More children were killed in Gaza in the first four months of Israel's campaign than the total number of children killed in conflicts worldwide in the past four years, the head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, said in March.

Homes and buildings

Up to 1.7 million people, or around 75% of Gaza's people, have been displaced, most of them multiple times, UNRWA said in a report published in mid-May.

Satellite imagery analysed by the United Nations Satellite Centre in March showed 35% of the strip's buildings had been destroyed or damaged.

In a best-case scenario, rebuilding Gaza's destroyed homes will take until at least 2040 but the process could take as long as 80 years, according to U.N. assessments.

Schools and hospitals

Most of the Gaza Strip's schools have been damaged and more than 70% will need major repairs, the U.N. says.

In May, the World Health Organization said only about one-third of Gaza's 36 hospitals and primary health care centres were still partially operational.

Economic impact

Half of Gaza's population was living below the poverty line before the war began. Now, real gross domestic product (GDP) has contracted by almost 84% in Gaza, the United Nations labour agency said in June. Unemployment has reached 80%.    

Climate impact

A study by an international team of researchers released by Queen Mary University of London in June estimated that the emissions from the first 120 days of the conflict alone were greater than the annual emissions of 26 individual countries and territories.

When war infrastructure built by both Israel and Hamas was factored in, the total emissions increased to more than those of 36 countries and territories.

(Reporting by Nazih Osseiran; Editing by Helen Popper and Clar Ni Chonghaile.)