Gaza death toll increases as over 14,000 are presumed missing or buried

Authorities in Gaza have revised the death toll in the Strip since 7 October 2023 upwards to 61,709, after taking into account at least 14,000 people presumed missing or buried under rubble.

The head of the Gaza Information Office told a news conference that roughly three quarters of the bodies of Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes have been recovered and brought to medical centres.

As a fragile ceasefire continues and phase two talks mediated by the US, Egypt and Qatar get underway, humanitarian teams have shifted from rescue to recovery missions in rubble-strewn Gaza.

Earlier this month, peer-reviewed research published in the Lancet estimated the death toll in the first nine months of the Israel-Hamas war was about 40 per cent higher than figures recorded by the Gaza health ministry.

The study said nearly 60 per cent of the 64,260 deaths during that period were women, children and people over 65.