Israeli military data reveals an 83% civilian death rate in the Gaza war.

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.content__main-cThis appears to be a block of CSS code, not natural English text. It contains styling rules for web elements, such as borders, colors, spacing, and typography, likely for a news or article layout. The code includes media queries for responsive design and defines various visual properties for different sections and components.The provided text appears to be CSS code, not natural English text. It contains styling rules, selectors, and media queries for web layout and design. Since it is code, rewriting it into fluent English while preserving meaning isn’t applicable. If you intended to provide English text for rewriting, please share that instead.The provided text appears to be CSS code for styling a webpage layout. It defines grid structures, media queries for responsive design, and visual properties like colors, borders, and spacing. The code includes rules for elements such as headlines, meta information, standfirst text, and media containers, adjusting their appearance across different screen sizes.The second span in the figcaption of the furniture-wrapper is set to display as a block with a maximum width of 90%. On screens wider than 30em, the figcaption padding is adjusted to 4px at the top, 20px on the sides, and 12px at the bottom. If the figcaption has the “hidden” class, its opacity is set to 0.

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}According to a classified Israeli military intelligence database, five out of every six Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in Gaza have been civilians—an exceptionally high death toll for civilians that is rarely seen in modern warfare.

As of May, 19 months into the war, Israeli intelligence officials recorded 8,900 named fighters from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad as dead or “probably dead,” according to a joint investigation by the Guardian, +972 Magazine, and Local Call.

By that time, Gaza health authorities reported that 53,000 Palestinians had been killed in Israeli attacks, a figure that includes both combatants and civilians. The named fighters in the Israeli database accounted for only 17% of the total, meaning 83% of those killed were civilians.

This ratio of civilian to combatant deaths is unusually high for modern conflicts, even when compared to wars known for indiscriminate violence, such as those in Syria and Sudan.

“That proportion of civilians among those killed would be unusually high, especially given how long the conflict has lasted,” said Therése Pettersson of the Uppsala Conflict Data Program, which monitors civilian casualties worldwide. “You might find similar rates in specific battles or cities in other conflicts, but it’s very rare overall.”

Since 1989, the UCDP has recorded only a few instances where civilians made up a greater share of the dead: the Srebrenica massacre (though not the Bosnian war overall), the Rwandan genocide, and the Russian siege of Mariupol in 2022.

Many genocide scholars, lawyers, and human rights activists—including Israeli academics and advocacy groups—argue that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, pointing to the mass killing of civilians and the imposition of starvation.

The Israeli military did not deny the existence of the database or challenge the data on Hamas and PIJ deaths when approached for comment by Local Call and +972 Magazine. The Guardian received no response when requesting comment on the same information.A spokesperson stated that they had chosen to “rephrase” their response. In a brief statement sent to the Guardian, the Israeli military did not directly answer questions about its military intelligence database. The statement claimed that “figures presented in the article are incorrect” but did not specify which data was disputed. It also said the numbers “do not reflect the data available in the IDF’s systems,” without clarifying which systems were being referenced. When asked why the military had provided different responses about the same set of data, a spokesperson did not immediately reply.

The database identifies 47,653 Palestinians as active members of the military wings of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). It is based on apparent internal documents seized in Gaza, which the Guardian has not independently viewed or verified. Multiple intelligence sources familiar with the database said the military considers it the only authoritative count of militant casualties.

According to Local Call, the military also regards the Gaza health ministry’s death toll as reliable. The former head of military intelligence recently appeared to cite these figures, even though Israeli politicians often dismiss them as propaganda.

As of 14 May 2025, the Gaza health ministry reported an overall death toll of 52,928. Both databases likely underestimate casualties. The Gaza ministry only lists people whose bodies have been recovered, excluding thousands believed buried under rubble. Israeli military intelligence is not aware of all militant deaths or new recruits. Still, these are the figures used by Israeli officers for war planning.

Israeli politicians and generals have at times claimed that as many as 20,000 militants have been killed, or asserted a civilian-to-combatant ratio as low as 1:1. The higher numbers cited by officials may include civilians with Hamas affiliations, such as government administrators and police—even though international law prohibits targeting non-combatants. They may also include Palestinians with no ties to Hamas. Israel’s southern command reportedly allowed soldiers to classify people killed in Gaza as militants without identification or verification.

One intelligence source who accompanied ground forces remarked, “People are promoted to the rank of terrorist after their death. If I had listened to the brigade, I would have concluded that we had killed 200% of Hamas operatives in the area.”

Retired General Itzhak Brik, who advised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the start of the war and is now one of his harshest critics, said serving soldiers are aware that politicians exaggerate the Hamas death toll. “There is absolutely no connection between the numbers that are announced and what is actually happening. It is just one big bluff,” he stated. Brik, who once commanded Israel’s military colleges and stays in touch with serving officers, described meeting soldiers from a unit identifying casualties in Gaza. They told him “most of them” were civilians.

Despite widespread destruction and tens of thousands killed in Gaza, the classified database lists nearly 40,000 individuals still considered militants and alive by the army.

Muhammad Shehada, a Palestinian analyst, said estimates from Hamas and PIJ members also suggest Israeli officials are inflating militant casualty numbers in public statements. By December 2024, members told him an estimated 6,500 people from the military and political wings of both groups had been killed. “Israel expands the boundaries so they can define every single person in Gaza as Hamas,” Shehada said. “All of it is killing in the moment for tactical purposes that have nothing to do with extinguishing a threat.”

The ratio of civilian casualties…The number of casualties has likely risen since May, when Israel attempted to take over the role of UN and humanitarian organizations that had been providing food to Palestinians during the war. Israeli forces have killed hundreds of people attempting to access food from distribution centers located within military exclusion zones.

Starving survivors, already confined to just 20% of the territory, have now been ordered to evacuate the north as Israel prepares for another ground operation. This is expected to have devastating consequences for civilians.

According to Mary Kaldor, professor emeritus at the LSE and director of the Conflict Research Programme, the high death toll is partly due to the nature of the conflict. International humanitarian law was designed to protect civilians in conventional wars, where state armies face each other on the battlefield—a model still largely seen in Russia’s war in Ukraine.

In Gaza, however, Israel is fighting Hamas militants in densely populated urban areas. Its rules of engagement permit strikes that kill large numbers of civilians, even when targeting low-level militants. Kaldor described the campaign as one of “targeted assassinations” carried out with little regard for civilian lives.

The proportion of civilians among the dead in Gaza is comparable to recent conflicts in Sudan, Yemen, Uganda, and Syria, where violence has often been directed at civilians. Kaldor noted that in such wars, armed groups tend to avoid direct battles, instead seeking to control territory by targeting civilians. She suggested that Israel may be following a similar model—dominating the population and controlling land, with forced displacement as a possible objective.

Israel’s government maintains that the war is an act of self-defense following the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 people. Yet political and military leaders have repeatedly used genocidal language. A former head of military intelligence stated that 50 Palestinians should die for every Israeli killed on October 7, adding that “it does not matter now if they are children.” In recordings aired on Israeli TV, he described mass killing in Gaza as “necessary” to send a “message to future generations” of Palestinians.

Many Israeli soldiers have testified that all Palestinians in Gaza are treated as potential targets. One soldier stationed in Rafah reported that his unit established an “imaginary line” and shot to kill anyone who crossed it, including children and a woman, without warning.

Neta Crawford, a professor of international relations at Oxford University, described Israel’s tactics as a “worrisome” departure from decades of efforts to protect civilians. She noted that, following public outrage over American actions in Vietnam, Western militaries adopted policies aimed at limiting harm to civilians—practices that no longer seem to guide Israel’s military strategy. While Israel claims to use similar civilian casualty mitigation procedures as the United States, the high death toll and widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure suggest otherwise.I do not.

Frequently Asked Questions
Of course Here is a list of FAQs about the reported Israeli military data on civilian casualties in the Gaza war designed to be clear concise and informative

BeginnerLevel Questions

1 What does an 83 civilian death rate actually mean
It means that out of every 100 people whose deaths were recorded and analyzed in this specific data set 83 were identified as civilians and 17 were identified as combatants

2 Who released this data and where did it come from
This data was released by the Israeli military It is based on their internal review of hostilities in Gaza up to a certain point

3 Why is this number so high
The IDF has stated that the high number is due to the challenges of fighting in a dense urban environment where Hamas militants operate within and underneath civilian areas making it extremely difficult to avoid civilian casualties

4 Is this number accurate How was it calculated
The accuracy is heavily debated The IDF says it uses intelligence and operational reports to distinguish between combatants and civilians Critics argue the militarys methodology is not transparent and may be designed to minimize the perceived ratio of combatant deaths

5 How does this compare to other estimates like from the Gaza Health Ministry
The overall death toll reported by the Gaza Health Ministry is significantly higher However the key difference is in the ratio The Gaza Health Ministry does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its public totals stating that the vast majority are women and children The IDFs 83 figure is an attempt to provide their own ratio

Advanced Detailed Questions

6 What is the definition of a combatant vs a civilian in this data
This is a critical and complex question International Humanitarian Law defines a civilian as anyone who is not a member of state armed forces or an organized armed group of a party to the conflict The controversy often lies in how a member of an armed group is defined especially for individuals who may not be actively fighting at the time of death

7 Does a high civilian death rate automatically mean war crimes were committed
Not automatically International law prohibits attacks that target civilians but also recognizes that civilian casualties can occur during attacks on legitimate military targets The key legal tests are

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