THE number of Palestinians killed by the Israelis in Gaza exceeds 100,000, a German research institute said today.

A new study by the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR), one of Germany’s leading research centres, said the death toll could range from 99,997 to 125,915, with a midpoint estimate of 112,069 killings since October 2023.

The study estimated that 78,318 people were killed directly by bombings and various types of attacks carried out by the Israeli army, covering the period from October 7, 2023, to the end of 2024. But further analysis indicated that the number of deaths related to the conflict in Gaza had likely exceeded those figures.

The study’s co-director Irena Chen said: “We will never know the exact number of deaths. We are only trying to estimate, as accurately as possible, what a realistic order of magnitude might be.”

The research found that violent deaths in Gaza, occurring between October 7, 2023, and December 31, 2024, showed an age and gender distribution that resembles demographic patterns observed in several genocides documented by the United Nations Inter-Agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation.

During its attacks, Israel has reduced Gaza to rubble and destroyed the basic infrastructure of the enclave.

The United Nations, human rights experts, genocide scholars and dozens of world leaders have accused the Israelis of committing genocide. Israel denies it.

The report makes no comment on whether Israel has committed genocide.

The Gaza Ministry of Health said: “Life expectancy in Gaza fell by 44 per cent in 2023 and 47 per cent in 2024 compared to what it would have been without the war, which equates to losses of 34.4 and 36.4 years, respectively.”

The health ministry says the cumulative number of victims as a result of the genocide perpetrated by Israel since October 2023 amounts to 69,775 killed, mostly children and women, and more than 170,965 injured.

The UN estimates that around 1.9 million people  in Gaza — almost 90 per cent of the population — have been displaced by the fighting.

Many Palestinians continue to endure a still growing humanitarian crisis.

Nearly all of Gaza’s over 2 million people were forced from their homes during the war. Most have been living in tents or shelters, some of them built over destroyed homes, with no proper sewage facilities.

Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem, said: “All the world’s efforts to alleviate the disaster have failed because of the Israeli siege.”