The ministry recorded 24,650 deaths in Gaza during 2025, with direct Israeli attacks identified as the leading cause, followed by heart disease at 7.7%.
Males accounted for 73.4% of the recorded deaths, while females made up 26.6%.
Gaza City recorded the highest share of deaths at 37.3%, followed by North Gaza governorate at 20.2%, Khan Younis at 19.5%, the Middle Area at 12.3% and Rafah at 10.7%.
The report also highlighted a sharp deterioration in child mortality, with the mortality rate among children under five rising to 33.4 per 1,000 live births in 2025, compared with 13.6 in 2022.
The ministry said the rate would have stood at 15.8 per 1,000 live births without deaths attributed to the war.
Meanwhile, Palestinian criticism has also focused on the failure to implement the Gaza agreement, with Ibrahim al-Madhoun, director of the Palestinian Media Foundation, accusing the Board of Peace of failing to take an active role in enforcing the deal.
“Unfortunately, the Board of Peace’s role is extremely negative,” he told Al Jazeera. “It has become like one of the spectators, rather than an active party responsible for implementing the agreement.”
Al-Madhoun said Palestinian factions had been promised “a halt to the aggression, an Israeli withdrawal, the entry of peacekeeping and disengagement forces,” alongside an administrative committee, after accepting the plan.
“Yet Israel has implemented none of what was mentioned,” he said.
He further criticized the board for treating the parties to the agreement as equally responsible for its failure.
“The board makes general remarks and holds all parties responsible for failure, even though one clear party rejects the agreement and refuses to implement it, while the other party is implementing it to the letter,” he said.
Al-Madhoun said the failure to enforce the agreement had fueled growing doubts among Palestinians, across the region and “even among the mediators” over the board’s viability.