In pictures: Palestinians mark 500 days of Israel's genocidal war in Gaza
After 500 days of carnage and fragile truce, over 2 million Palestinians in Gaza face uncertainty as Israel and its ally US remain firm in their stances to ethnically cleanse the enclave's population.
Relatives mourn during the funeral ceremony for Palestinians who lost their lives in Israeli attack on Church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza City, Gaza, on October 20, 2023.
Palestinians have marked 500 days of Israel's genocidal war in Gaza with protests in Israel demanding further progress on a ceasefire so all remaining captives can be returned from Gaza.
Abu Mursa and his family have been displaced more than a dozen times since the war began in October 2023, moving from place to place across the besieged Palestinian territory in a desperate attempt to stay safe, he said.
"It's been 500 days of humiliation, suffering and bloodshed," said the resident of northern Gaza, finally able to return home after a fragile ceasefire took hold on January 19.
"I just hope the ceasefire holds," he added. "There is only destruction around us."
Like the Abu Mursa family, nearly all of Gaza's 2.3 million residents have been uprooted at least once during Israel's war in which Tel Aviv killed nearly 62,000 Palestinians, wounded another 110,000 and uprooted almost entire Gaza's residents, who now face another 1948-like Nakba (catastrophe in Arabic) as Israel and US work on a dangerous plan to ethnically cleanse all Palestinians in Gaza.
Witness Gaza's 500-day journey through these striking images.
Hamas says its October 7, 2023 blitz on Israeli military sites and settlements that surprised its arch-enemy was orchestrated in response to near-daily Israeli attacks on Al Aqsa Mosque, illegal settler violence in occupied West Bank and to put Palestine question "back on the table."
The Israeli military invasion by land, air and sea has killed at least 62,000 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians.
Research published in the Lancet medical journal estimates that the death toll in Gaza during the first nine months of the Israel's war was about 40% higher than numbers recorded by the Palestinian officials. Lancet estimates Palestinian death toll by end of June 2024 was 64,260, with 59% being women, children and people over 65.
Some 14,000 Palestinians are feared buried under the rubble of their bombed homes. Another 10,000 have been abducted by Israel and dumped in Israeli jails and torture chambers.
Wounded children are taken to the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City for treatment, in Gaza. Israel has killed more than 17,000 children in Gaza, according to Palestinian officials.
More than 38,000 Palestinian children have been orphaned by Israel’s genocidal war, according to latest Palestinian data.
Palestinian officials say some 32,151 children lost their fathers, 4,417 lost their mothers, and 1,918 lost both parents.
Seven soldiers who've refused to continue fighting in Gaza have described how Palestinians were indiscriminately including babies and women were killed and houses destroyed. Several said they were ordered to burn or demolish homes that posed no threat, and they saw soldiers loot and vandalise residences.
In their mission to erase Palestine, Israeli troops have killed a record number of babies, medics, athletes, and journalists — unprecedented in any war in this century.
Israeli troops have live streamed hundreds of videos of soldiers looting Palestinian homes, destroying children's beds, setting homes on fire and laughing, wearing undergarments of displaced Palestinians and stealing kids' toys.
Israeli military has wiped out families, pulverised neighbourhoods, dug up mass graves, destroyed cemeteries, bombed shops and businesses, flattened hospitals and morgues, ran tanks and bulldozers on dead bodies, tortured jailed Palestinians with dogs and electricity, subjected detainees to mock executions, and even raped many Palestinians.
Ceasefire celebrations last month in Gaza were short-lived and overshadowed by the ever-present fragility of the truce and its violations by Israel.
Hamas has been releasing Israeli captives since January 19, 2025 in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians abducted and jailed by Israel. Hamas has rejected Trump's controversial plan and vowed to fight back if Israel ends truce.
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