Written answers
Tuesday, 8 July 2025
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Middle East
Carol Nolan (Offaly, Independent)
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199. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the total number of people the Government accepts have been killed in the Israel-Gaza conflict to date; the number of these deaths that are civilians; the number that are Hamas militants; the sources of information which Ministers use when quoting these numbers in public statements; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37320/25]
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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According to the latest humanitarian situation update by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) which was published on 2 July 2025, at least 57,012 Palestinians have been killed and 134,592 Palestinians injured in Gaza between 7 October 2023 and 2 July 2025. These figures are provided by the Ministry of Health in Gaza.
According to UNICEF, over 15,000 children in Gaza have been killed, over 34,000 injured, and nearly one million children displaced. In a report published on 8 November 2024, the United National Human Rights Office found that close to 70 per cent of Palestinians killed in the conflict were women and children.
The UN reported in June that the fate of over 11,000 people, the majority being women and children, missing since the start of the war “remains unclear due to the absence of accurate official statistics that might determine whether they were killed in airstrikes and remain buried under the rubble, detained, or disappeared under other circumstances.”
The humanitarian situation in Gaza is worsening daily. The entire population is facing high levels of food insecurity. More than 20% face starvation after 20 months of fighting, and almost 80 days of the Israeli blockade on vital, life-saving, humanitarian aid.
Ireland has consistently called on Israel to lift its blockade and allow unimpeded access of humanitarian aid at scale into Gaza, in accordance with international law and humanitarian principles.
The immediate focus of the international community must be on bringing hostilities to an immediate end and for all parties to return to talks aimed at immediately agreeing a ceasefire and hostage release deal. All remaining hostages must be released. There needs to be an immediate resumption of humanitarian access into and throughout Gaza, and at scale.
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