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More than 40,000 Palestinians Have Been Killed in Gaza, Territory’s Health Ministry Says

A woman mourns the covered bodies of her child and her husband killed in an Israeli army bombardment of the Gaza Strip, in the hospital in Khan Younis, Tuesday Dec. 5, 2023. (AP)
A woman mourns the covered bodies of her child and her husband killed in an Israeli army bombardment of the Gaza Strip, in the hospital in Khan Younis, Tuesday Dec. 5, 2023. (AP)
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More than 40,000 Palestinians Have Been Killed in Gaza, Territory’s Health Ministry Says

A woman mourns the covered bodies of her child and her husband killed in an Israeli army bombardment of the Gaza Strip, in the hospital in Khan Younis, Tuesday Dec. 5, 2023. (AP)
A woman mourns the covered bodies of her child and her husband killed in an Israeli army bombardment of the Gaza Strip, in the hospital in Khan Younis, Tuesday Dec. 5, 2023. (AP)

More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, the territory’s Health Ministry said Thursday.

Israel’s offensive has also wounded 92,401 people and displaced over 85% of the population from their homes, the ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said. It does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its toll.

The announcement came during yet another push from international mediators to broker a ceasefire in the war, now in its 11th month.

The conflict began Oct. 7 after Hamas-led fighters attacked southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people — most of them civilians — and dragging roughly 250 hostages to Gaza.

Israel says 111 of the captives have not been released, including the bodies of 39. The hostages include 15 women and two children under the age of 5.

In Gaza, health officials have struggled to fully identify the dead as bodies stream into overwhelmed hospitals and morgues where they say the count is compiled amid the chaos of war and displacement.

In its most recent detailed report on the dead, issued Thursday, the ministry said 40,005 people have been killed. Health officials and civil defense workers say the true toll is likely thousands higher, since many bodies remain buried under the rubble of buildings destroyed in airstrikes.

Israel’s air and ground offensive in Gaza has been one of the most devastating military campaigns in recent history.

The bombardment and shelling have killed entire Palestinian families. With cemeteries often unreachable, families fleeing Israeli airstrikes bury their dead wherever possible — in backyards, along roadsides and under the staircases of their homes.

Israel says it aims to eliminate Hamas. It blames Hamas for civilian deaths because fighters operate in civilian areas and have built extensive tunnel networks underneath them. Israeli forces have regularly targeted mosques, schools, hospitals and cemeteries where it claims fighters or tunnels are located, often causing civilian casualties.

The fighting has also killed 329 Israeli soldiers. The Israeli military claims around 15,000 Hamas fighters are among those killed in Gaza but has not provided evidence.

Nearly 85% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes, fleeing multiple times across the territory to escape ground offensives. During the war, thousands within Israel and in southern Lebanon have also been displaced.

The assault has created a massive humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The entire territory is at high risk of famine and over 495,000 people — more than a fifth of the population — are expected to experience the most severe level of hunger in the next months, according to the latest report by the leading authority on measuring hunger.

Sanitation systems have been destroyed, leaving pools of sewage and towers of garbage in tent camps packed with displaced families.

The offensive likely either damaged or destroyed 59% of all structures in Gaza by July 3, including 70% of buildings in north Gaza, according to an analysis of satellite data by Corey Scher and Jamon Van Den Hoek, experts in mapping damage during war.

The conflict has sparked fears of a wider regional war, with Lebanon’s Hezbollah and the Israeli military trading fire almost daily over their countries’ border.

More than 500 people have been killed on the Lebanese side, including some 350 Hezbollah members and 50 fighters from other armed groups, with the rest civilians. In Israel, 22 soldiers and 24 civilians have been killed.

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Arab World

Khartoum Streets Bear Deep Scars as Sudan War Enters Fourth Year

A street in Khartoum. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
A street in Khartoum. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Khartoum Streets Bear Deep Scars as Sudan War Enters Fourth Year

A street in Khartoum. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
A street in Khartoum. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Sudan’s war enters its fourth year on Wednesday after three years of bitter fighting that have reshaped life for millions, not only in casualty figures but in daily stories of loss, endurance, and shattered hopes for safety and stability.

The conflict, which erupted between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces on April 15, 2023, and continues across large parts of the country, has upended daily life, leaving behind fear, grief, and deep social scars.

In Khartoum, streets that once bustled with life are now eerily quiet. Burned buildings, cracked facades, and abandoned, rusting cars line roads where only a few people pass.

Near total paralysis

Across the capital, daily life has been severely disrupted. Markets that once drove economic activity are largely paralyzed, while disease spreads, electricity cuts stretch for hours, and prices surge. Those who remain survive on the bare minimum.

Entire neighborhoods reflect the scale of the crisis. Many homes stand empty after residents fled, while others lie in ruins. Schools and hospitals have been damaged, triggering a sharp decline in education and health care services.

Yet amid the devastation, small signs of resilience persist. Volunteers clean streets, reopen modest shops, and assist those in need, reflecting a determination to reclaim what remains.

Deferred dream

Ali al-Tayeb, a university student, once had a clear path: studying chemical engineering. The war abruptly derailed those plans.

He said panic in the early months forced him and his family to flee from White Nile state to Talodi in South Kordofan.

“The suffering was not just a geographical move; it was the collapse of an entire educational path because of the harsh economic conditions,” he said.

“Now I work as a salesman in a small shop after my studies stopped, and I live day by day, hoping that one day I will return to university.”

Awatif Abdelrahman, a tea seller, carries a deeper loss. Her son disappeared in the chaos after leaving to buy bread.

Her home in Omdurman’s Wad Nubawi district was shelled, forcing her to flee north to al-Thawra. When she returned months later, she found only rubble, her house destroyed and looted.

“All I want is for the war to end, and for my son to return safely,” she said.

Public transport bus driver Magdi Khalifa, who lost loved ones during the war. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Resilience and hope

Khartoum stands at a crossroads between a past marked by destruction and an uncertain future. Despite deep wounds, the city endures.

Public bus driver Magdi Khalifa lost not only his livelihood but also relatives and friends, some killed in the war, others due to the collapse of health care.

“They are unforgettable days of cruelty, and they have left their mark on every detail of our lives,” he said.

Elsewhere, butcher Mohamed Darwish is trying to rebuild after heavy financial losses forced him to start from scratch.

“We live on hope, and we only want a safe life without fear,” he said.

Their stories converge on one point: war not only takes lives, it erases stability, security, and the future itself, while exposing a fragile but persistent hope.

Rising hunger and poverty

Poverty has surged during the war, with 70% of the population now living below the poverty line, according to Luca Renda, the United Nations Development Program’s resident representative in Sudan, speaking to AFP.

Before the war, about 38% of the population lived below the poverty line; now the UNDP estimates that figure has reached around 70%,” said Renda, adding that one in four Sudanese lives on less than $2 a day.

In conflict zones such as Darfur and Kordofan, poverty rises to around 75%.

The World Food Program recently described Sudan as facing the world’s largest hunger crisis, with more than 19 million people experiencing acute food insecurity.

A UNDP report released Tuesday said average income has fallen to levels not seen since 1992, while extreme poverty has exceeded levels recorded in the 1980s.

After three years of this conflict, it’s not just that Sudan is facing a crisis, but that the international community is witnessing the systematic erosion of the future of an entire country, according to Renda.

These figures reflect families torn apart, children out of school, and livelihoods lost.

The war has killed tens of thousands and displaced at least 11 million people, creating the world’s largest hunger and displacement crisis.

An accurate death toll remains elusive due to limited information, communications blackouts, and restricted movement across a country where much of the infrastructure has been destroyed.

Engineering student Ali Al-Tayeb, whose education was disrupted by the war, now works as a salesman in a small shop. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The missing

The International Committee of the Red Cross said at least 11,000 people have gone missing since the war began, highlighting deep psychological suffering among families.

The number of missing persons cases has risen by more than 40% over the past year alone.

These figures most likely represent only a fraction of the real number, and show the human cost of protracted conflicts, noted James Reynolds, the ICRC’s deputy director for Africa.

The ICRC added that 70 to 80% of health infrastructure in conflict areas is either out of service or severely lacking resources.

Berlin is hosting a donors conference on Wednesday aimed at making tangible progress toward ending the war and addressing urgent humanitarian needs, after similar meetings in London and Paris over the past two years failed to produce a diplomatic breakthrough.

Arab World

For First Time in Two Months, 323 Trucks Enter Gaza in One Day

A convoy carrying wounded Palestinians from Gaza for treatment through the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, after it was reopened by Israel on Sunday for a limited number of people, rides through Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, April 12, 2026. (Reuters)
A convoy carrying wounded Palestinians from Gaza for treatment through the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, after it was reopened by Israel on Sunday for a limited number of people, rides through Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, April 12, 2026. (Reuters)
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For First Time in Two Months, 323 Trucks Enter Gaza in One Day

A convoy carrying wounded Palestinians from Gaza for treatment through the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, after it was reopened by Israel on Sunday for a limited number of people, rides through Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, April 12, 2026. (Reuters)
A convoy carrying wounded Palestinians from Gaza for treatment through the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, after it was reopened by Israel on Sunday for a limited number of people, rides through Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, April 12, 2026. (Reuters)

For the first time in two months, the Gaza Strip has seen a sharp increase in trucks carrying aid and commercial goods, alongside a rise in travelers crossing through the Rafah land crossing in both directions.

A total of 323 trucks entered Gaza on Monday, including 220 commercial shipments for the private sector and 103 aid trucks from international organizations.

Of these, 234 trucks came through the Kerem Shalom crossing in the far south, and 89 through the Zikim crossing in northern Gaza, which reopened on Sunday after 44 days.

Workers in Gaza’s civil and charitable sectors expect the Kissufim crossing, between northern Khan Younis and southern Deir al-Balah, to open on Sunday to further increase the flow of trucks.

A source in Gaza’s economy ministry said most of the incoming shipments were commercial goods, including food supplies carried on more than 270 trucks, along with shelter materials, relief items, consumer goods, household supplies, fuel, and telecommunications equipment.

“For the first time in about two months, this number of trucks has been allowed in,” the source told Asharq Al-Awsat, adding that fewer trucks had entered since the ceasefire took effect on October 10.

The ceasefire deal stipulates the entry of 600 trucks per day, but Hamas and UN bodies have accused Israel of allowing only limited numbers.

The source said most trucks entering since the ceasefire have carried commercial goods, while aid shipments from Arab, Islamic, and international donors, including UN agencies, have been more limited.

Gaza officials have been told that more trucks and goods could be allowed in to help ease prices.

Israel on Tuesday allowed 126 Palestinians, including 41 patients and 85 companions, to travel after coordination by the World Health Organization. About 18 foreign passport holders also left through the crossing in coordination with their countries.

Israel partially reopened the Rafah crossing under the ceasefire at the start of February, shut it again when the war with Iran began later that month, and reopened it on March 19.

Since the ceasefire, the number of people allowed to pass through Rafah has remained limited, occasionally reaching 100, with expectations that it could rise to 150 a day.

A Palestinian source in Gaza said the recent easing in truck entries and movement through Rafah followed an agreement reached by Gaza’s representative at the Board of Peace, Nickolay Mladenov, with Israel to push compliance with the ceasefire terms.

For now, only patients are allowed to travel through Rafah, but other categories, including students and stranded civilians, could be permitted within about two weeks.

Palestinian factions, led by Hamas, have called on Mladenov and mediators to press Israel to fully implement the first phase of the ceasefire before moving to the second. Contacts and meetings on the issue are ongoing in Cairo.

Arab World

After Three Years of War, Sudan in Shambles as Donors Gather in Berlin

A Sudanese man pulls a donkey cart filled with water for sale in Port Sudan on April 14, 2026. (AFP)
A Sudanese man pulls a donkey cart filled with water for sale in Port Sudan on April 14, 2026. (AFP)
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After Three Years of War, Sudan in Shambles as Donors Gather in Berlin

A Sudanese man pulls a donkey cart filled with water for sale in Port Sudan on April 14, 2026. (AFP)
A Sudanese man pulls a donkey cart filled with water for sale in Port Sudan on April 14, 2026. (AFP)

The vast majority of Sudanese people have been plunged into poverty, with 11 million uprooted from their homes and nearly twice as many facing hunger as the war between the army and its paramilitary foes enters its fourth year.

On the third anniversary of the start of the grinding conflict on Wednesday, donors will gather in Berlin for an international conference aimed at reviving faltering peace talks and mobilizing aid for one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

"People are exhausted," said Amgad Ahmed, 42, who has lived in Omdurman, Khartoum's twin city, throughout the conflict.

"Three years of war have worn people down. We have lost work, savings and any sense of stability," he told AFP.

The meeting in Berlin brings together governments, aid agencies and civil society groups, but excludes both the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) -- the two sides fighting the conflict.

It follows similar conferences hosted by London and Paris over the past two years that failed to produce a diplomatic breakthrough.

The war between Sudan's army and the RSF has killed tens of thousands of people, sparking what German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called "the greatest humanitarian crisis of our time, which is not very often in the public eye".

Nearly 700 civilians have been killed in drone strikes since January, as attacks have escalated on both sides, particularly in the southern Kordofan region and Blue Nile State, according to the United Nations.

A semblance of normality, however, has taken root in the capital Khartoum since the army re-established control there last year.

In parts of the city, reconstruction has begun. Markets have reopened, traffic has returned to streets that were once largely empty, and national secondary school exams were held this week after nearly two years of widespread school closures.

According to the UN, around 1.7 million people have returned to the capital.

But danger still lurks among the soot-stained buildings, with authorities slowly working to clear tens of thousands of unexploded bombs left behind by the fighting.

- 'Heartbreaking' -

Al-Basheer Babker al-Basheer, 41, who visited Khartoum twice this year after three years away, said the city would need years to recover.

"I was happy to come back," he told AFP. "But when I went into the city center, it was heartbreaking."

"The road to the university where I studied is no longer the same. The walls are black," he said. "They are not the same places we used to go to."

Quad-led talks stalled after army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan accused the group in November of bias over Abu Dhabi's membership.

German Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Kathrin Deschauer said the Berlin conference would discuss how to "exert influence on the key actors".

"There are many external actors involved in this war," said Luca Renda, the UN Development Program's representative in Sudan.

"And as long as this continues, unfortunately, the chances of peace are very slim."

Beyond widespread infrastructure destruction, the war has pushed Sudan deeper into hunger and poverty, with humanitarian funding at just 16 percent of what is needed, Renda said.

Famine was declared last year in North Darfur capital el-Fashir and Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan, with 20 additional areas at risk, the UN said.

African Union Commission Chairman Mahamoud Ali Youssouf, in Berlin for the meeting, voiced hope for a cessation of hostilities but acknowledged "we are not there yet".

"When the whole world is focusing on Iran and Ukraine and other crises, I think it is very much appreciated that Germany puts this agenda on the table so that we do not lose sight about the suffering of the people of the Sudan."