With much of Gaza reduced to rubble by 10 months of Israeli offensive, counting the dead has become a challenge for the territory’s health ministry, as the death toll nears 40,000.

Two AFP correspondents witnessed health facilities enter deaths in the ministry’s database.

Gaza health officials first identify the bodies of the dead, by the visual recognition of a relative or friend, or by the recovery of personal items. The deceased’s information is then entered into the health ministry’s digital database, usually including name, gender, birth date and ID number.

When bodies cannot be identified because they are unrecognisable or when no one claims them, staff record the death under a number, alongside all the information they were able to gather.

In public hospitals under the direct supervision of the territory’s government, the “personal information and identity number” of every Palestinian killed during the conflict are entered into the hospital’s database as soon as they are pronounced dead.

For those who die in private hospitals and clinics, their information is taken down on a form that must be sent to the ministry within 24 hours to be added to the central registry, a ministry statement said.

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