At least 54,084 Palestinians have been killed and over 123,308 injured in the Gaza Strip since October 2023, according to a statement released on Wednesday by the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

At least 17,400 of the dead are children.

The death toll stood at just over 50,000 on March 18, when Israel broke the latest ceasefire with Hamas. 

Since then however, Israeli air and ground assaults on the Palestinian enclave intensified, including the launch of Operation Gideon’s Chariots two weeks ago, marking one of the most severe escalations in the ongoing war.

In the past two months alone, nearly 4,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 11,200 injured, health officials said.

Among the most recent attacks, 54 Palestinians were killed Monday in airstrikes that struck a school-turned-shelter in the city of Khan Younis in northern Gaza.

Israel’s 18-month military campaign has devastated the enclave. Nearly all residential areas have been leveled, and about 90% of Gaza’s educational infrastructure — including all seven universities — has been destroyed.

Medical facilities have also been heavily impacted. Fewer than half of Gaza’s 36 hospitals remain partially operational.

Since Israel began blocking aid shipments on March 2, a famine ensued, adding to the new death toll. 

29 people starved to death last week across Gaza, most of whom were children and the elderly.