Half a Year into the War in Gaza, Here’s a Look at the Conflict by the Numbers

Palestinians flee from northern Gaza as Israeli tanks block the Salah al-Din road in the central Gaza Strip on Nov. 24, 2023. (AP)
Palestinians flee from northern Gaza as Israeli tanks block the Salah al-Din road in the central Gaza Strip on Nov. 24, 2023. (AP)
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Half a Year into the War in Gaza, Here’s a Look at the Conflict by the Numbers

Palestinians flee from northern Gaza as Israeli tanks block the Salah al-Din road in the central Gaza Strip on Nov. 24, 2023. (AP)
Palestinians flee from northern Gaza as Israeli tanks block the Salah al-Din road in the central Gaza Strip on Nov. 24, 2023. (AP)

The Israel-Hamas war has stretched on for half a year and become one of the most destructive, deadly, and intractable conflicts of the 21st century.

Since Hamas’ Oct. 7 cross-border attack, Israel has pummeled the Gaza Strip, displacing the vast majority of the population and causing many to flee to Gaza’s southernmost city, Rafah. Food is scarce, the UN says famine is approaching and few Palestinians have been able to leave the besieged territory.

Meanwhile, Hamas continues to fire rockets into Israel from Gaza, and Hezbollah and other militant groups do so from southern Lebanon, prompting tit-for-tat fighting that has displaced thousands of civilians on both sides of Israel’s borders.

Hamas is still holding hostages taken during the Oct. 7 raid, as well as the bodies of some who died in captivity. And ceasefire talks stretch on with no end in sight.

Here’s a look at the conflict by numbers, which mainly come from the Israeli military and prime minister’s office, the Gaza health ministry, the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and Associated Press reporting.

TOTAL DEATHS

Palestinians killed in Gaza: 33,091

Children killed in Gaza: more than 13,000

People killed in Israel: about 1,200

Palestinians killed in the West Bank: 456

People killed in Lebanon: at least 343

CIVILIANS

Civilians killed in Gaza: Gaza’s health ministry doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, but it says women and children have made up around two-thirds of those killed.

Civilians and foreigners killed in Israel on Oct. 7: 780

First responders killed in Israel on Oct. 7: 62

Civilians killed since Oct. 7 in Israel along its northern border: 9

Civilians killed in Lebanon: At least 50

Aid workers killed in Gaza: 224, including at least 30 killed in the line of duty

Health workers killed in Gaza: 484

Journalists killed in Gaza: At least 95

SOLDIERS/GUNMEN

Fighters killed by Israel in Gaza: more than 13,000, according to the Israeli military

Israeli soldiers killed in the Gaza ground offensive: 256

Israeli soldiers killed on Oct. 7: 314

Israeli soldiers killed along Israel’s northern front since Oct. 7: 11

Militants killed in Lebanon: About 280, mostly from Hezbollah

DESTRUCTION/HUMANITARIAN SITUATION IN GAZA

Percentage of buildings likely damaged/destroyed: 55.9%

Percentage of homes likely damaged: more than 60%

Percentage of school buildings damaged: 90%

Hospitals that are functioning: 10/36

Palestinian civilians facing “catastrophic” food insecurity, according to the UN: 1.1 million

Percentage of northern Gaza children under age 2 who are acutely malnourished: 31%

Percentage of students out of school: 100%

Mosques damaged: 227

Churches damaged: 3

INJURIES

Palestinians injured in Gaza since Oct. 7: 75,750

Palestinians injured in the West Bank since Oct. 7: 4,750

Israeli soldiers injured since the beginning of the ground offensive: 1,549

Israeli civilians injured on Oct. 7: 4,834

DISPLACEMENT

Palestinians currently displaced in Gaza: 1.7 million (70% of the population)

Israelis currently displaced from border communities: 90,000 (under 1% of the population)

HOSTAGES/PRISONERS

Hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7: 253

Hostages freed: 123

Hostages who are alive or haven’t been confirmed dead: 98, including two who were taken before Oct. 7

Hostages confirmed to have died in Hamas captivity: 36, including two taken before Oct. 7

Palestinian prisoners freed during weeklong pause in fighting: 240



Trump Meets with Syria's Sharaa in Saudi Arabia 

A handout picture provided by the Saudi Royal Palace shows Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister, (R) watching as US President Donald Trump (C) shakes hands with Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Riyadh on May 14, 2025. (Photo by Bandar Al-Jaloud / Saudi Royal Palace / AFP)
A handout picture provided by the Saudi Royal Palace shows Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister, (R) watching as US President Donald Trump (C) shakes hands with Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Riyadh on May 14, 2025. (Photo by Bandar Al-Jaloud / Saudi Royal Palace / AFP)
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Trump Meets with Syria's Sharaa in Saudi Arabia 

A handout picture provided by the Saudi Royal Palace shows Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister, (R) watching as US President Donald Trump (C) shakes hands with Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Riyadh on May 14, 2025. (Photo by Bandar Al-Jaloud / Saudi Royal Palace / AFP)
A handout picture provided by the Saudi Royal Palace shows Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister, (R) watching as US President Donald Trump (C) shakes hands with Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Riyadh on May 14, 2025. (Photo by Bandar Al-Jaloud / Saudi Royal Palace / AFP)

US President Donald Trump met in Riyadh on Wednesday with Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, the first such encounter between the two nations’ leaders in 25 years.

The meeting was attended by Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister, and other senior Saudi and US officials. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan took part via video conference.

Trump credited on Tuesday Crown Prince Mohammed and Erdogan with persuading to go ahead with the meeting.

The meeting, on the sidelines of Trump sitting with the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council, marks a major turn of events for a Syria still adjusting to life after the over 50-year, iron-gripped rule of the Assad family.

People across Syria cheered in the streets and shot off fireworks Tuesday night to celebrate, hopeful their nation locked out of credit cards and global finance might rejoin the world's economy when they need investment the most.

Trump on Tuesday announced the meeting, saying the US also would move to lift economic sanctions on Syria as well. Syria even before its ruinous civil war that began in 2011 struggled under a tightly controlled socialist economy and under sanctions by the US as being a state-sponsor of terror since 1979.

Trump said he was looking to give Syria, which is emerging from more than a decade of brutal civil war “a chance at peace” under Sharaa.

Sharaa was named interim president of Syria in January, a month after a stunning offensive by opposition groups led by his Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, that stormed Damascus, ending the 54-year rule of the Assad family.

The United States has been weighing how to handle Sharaa since he took power in December.

Many Gulf Arab leaders have rallied behind the new government in Damascus and want Trump to follow, believing it is a bulwark against Iran’s return to influence in Syria, where it had helped prop up Assad’s government during a decadelong civil war.

The White House earlier signaled that the Trump and Sharaa engagement, on the sidelines of the GCC meeting in Riyadh convened as part of Trump’s four-day visit to the region, would be brief, with the administration saying the US president had “agreed to say hello” to the Syrian president on Wednesday.

Sharaa is the first Syrian leader to meet an American president since Hafez al-Assad met Bill Clinton in Geneva in 2000.

Syrians cheered the announcement by Trump that the US will move to lift sanctions on the beleaguered nation.

The state-run SANA news agency published video and photographs of Syrians cheering in Umayyad Square, the largest in the country’s capital, Damascus. Others honked their car horns or waved the new Syrian flag in celebration.

People whistled and cheered the news as fireworks lit the night sky.

A statement from Syria’s Foreign Ministry issued Tuesday night called the announcement “a pivotal turning point for the Syrian people as we seek to emerge from a long and painful chapter of war.”

The statement said the sanctions were “in response to the war crimes committed by the Assad regime against the Syrian people.”

“The removal of these sanctions offers a vital opportunity for Syria to pursue stability, self-sufficiency and meaningful national reconstruction, led by and for the Syrian people,” the statement added.