section_path: Casualties
section_name: Casualties
paragraph_text: Casualties
  
  On 18 March, it was reported that at least 413 people were killed, including 174 children. The Gaza Health Ministry reported that more than 560 people were injured due to the attacks. Of the 404 fatalities, 263 of those killed were women and children. The high death toll made the 18 March attacks one of the deadliest days for Palestinians since the Gaza war 's beginning in October 2023. By 20 March, the casualty toll rose to 591 dead and 1,042 injured.
  
  The Gaza Strip's Government Media Office stated that most of the casualties were women, the elderly, and children; reporting that "entire families" had been killed. The office said that the attacks were tactically designed to destroy the will of the Gazan population, and urged the international community to stop the attacks and hold Israeli officials accountable.
  
  An Israeli airstrike on the United Nations headquarters in Gaza City killed one Bulgarian national and injured four other people.
  
  Issam al-Da'alis, whose position is akin to the Prime Minister of Gaza, was killed in the attacks on 18 March. Other government officials killed included: Mahmoud Abu Watfa (undersecretary of the Interior Ministry of the Gaza Strip), Bahjat Abu Sultan (chief of internal security), and Ahmed Omar al-Hatta (undersecretary of the Justice Ministry of the Gaza Strip). Palestinian Islamic Jihad spokesman Abu Hamza was also killed in the airstrikes. In addition, Hamas also reported the deaths of Yasser Harb, M. Muhammad al-Jamasi, Salah al-Bardawil, and Ismail Barhoum, members of its political bureau. The Popular Resistance Committees announced the death of Muhammad al-Batran, commander of its artillery unit and a member of its Central Military Brigade Council. On 27 March, an Israeli airstrike on a tent in Jabalia killed Hamas spokesman Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua.
  
  Muhammad Abu Salmiya, the director of the al-Shifa Hospital, reported that during the emergency response to the attacks, an injured victim died "every minute" in the hospital due to a lack of healthcare supplies. He stated that between Gaza City and North Gaza, only four intensive care beds were available, and that attempts to reach injured victims beneath the rubble were "extremely difficult".
  
  Over seventy people were reported injured in central Gaza.