Health officials in Hamas-run Gaza say the Palestinian death toll there has surpassed 20,000. That figure was released Friday. It is the latest indication of the staggering cost of the war as Israel expands its ground offensive and ordered tens of thousands more people to leave their homes. The deaths amount to nearly 1% of the territory’s prewar population. They are just one measure of the devastation wrought by the conflict that over 11 weeks has displaced nearly 85% of Gaza’s people and leveled wide swaths of the tiny coastal enclave. The U.N. and other agencies said Thursday that more than half a million people in Gaza are starving in describing the crisis caused by Israel’s bombardment and siege on the territory in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.
