The World Problems Index

Conflict

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Middle EastConflictSince 2023Curatedlow confidence

Gaza Conflict

Intense urban warfare has killed tens of thousands and displaced nearly the whole population of the Gaza Strip.

Severity score

60.0

Severe · default weighting

Trajectory

Steady

What this is

Following the Hamas-led attacks of 7 October 2023 and the subsequent Israeli military campaign, the Gaza Strip has experienced one of the highest-intensity urban bombardments of the modern era. Casualty figures come primarily from the Gaza Ministry of Health and are disputed; independent analyses in The Lancet and elsewhere have argued the true toll including indirect deaths is substantially higher. Nearly the entire population has been displaced, often repeatedly, and the health, water and sanitation systems have largely collapsed.

Score breakdown

Loss of life

70

Direct and attributable mortality, normalised across annual and cumulative tolls.

Lives negatively impacted

66

People displaced, injured, food-insecure, exposed or otherwise materially harmed.

Financial cost

40

Direct damage, lost output and health-system spend attributable to the event.

Environmental impact

35

Emissions, habitat and biodiversity loss, contamination and irreversibility.

Trajectory

92

Whether the situation is escalating, and how much worse it is plausibly getting.

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