The Israeli Military's Own Data Has Revealed At Least 83% Of Palestinians It Killed In Gaza Are Civilians
The data from the most authoritative database by Israeli intelligence showed that five out of six people killed by Israel were civilians, directly contradicting statements by Israeli officials.
At least 83% of Palestinians killed in Gaza by the Israeli military are civilians, a joint investigation by independent Israeli outlet +972 Magazine, the Guardian and Hebrew-language outlet Local Call has revealed.
The data, obtained from a database by the Israeli Military Intelligence Directorate – considered the most authoritative tally by Israeli intelligence – listed 8,900 fighters from Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) as dead or probably dead by May 2025.
At the time, the Ministry of Health in Gaza had listed that a total of 53,000 Palestinians had been killed in Gaza, meaning that only 17% of those killed were militants and that five out of six people killed by Israel were civilians.
The findings directly contradict statements by Israeli officials, who have repeatedly claimed that the ratio of fighters to civilians killed is as high as 1:1 or 2:1.
The Israeli military had most recently claimed in an update on Wednesday, Aug. 19, that it had killed 22,000 militants, according to the Times of Israel.
In addition, the Israeli military considers the number of Palestinians killed provided by the Ministry of Health in Gaza as reliable, Local Call had reported in 2024, with Israeli military officials citing the numbers, even recently.
However, Israeli politicians have regularly tried to claim that the numbers from the Ministry of Health is "propaganda", while several mainstream media outlets, such as the New York Times and BBC, have repeatedly tried to cast doubt on the accuracy of toll in their reporting.
The Gaza Health Ministry's figures have consistently proven to be credible in past years and have “held up to UN scrutiny, independent investigations and even Israel’s tallies,” according to AP.
Experts have said that the number of civilians killed in Gaza is “extremely high for modern warfare," with only a handful of modern conflicts, such as the genocides in Rwanda and Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as Russia’s siege of Mariupol in 2022, that have led to a higher proportion of civilian deaths.
The Israeli military has denied the report, saying that "the figures presented in the article are incorrect and do not reflect the data available in the [Israeli military's] systems."
However, it did not provide any alternative data.
Israel's genocide in Gaza has now killed more than 62,263 Palestinians, with the number believed to be much higher as hundreds of thousands of people are still buried in the rubble.
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Cherry Mohamed
Cherry Mohamed
Cherry Mohamed
