According to the former chief of the Israeli military, more than ten percent of Palestinians have been killed or injured since the war began. Ali Jadallah/Anadolu/Getty Images
According to CNN
About 2.2 million people live in Gaza; since the start of the war almost two years ago, more than 10% of them have been killed or wounded.
During a speech last week at the Ein HaBesor community in southern Israel, former Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi stated:
There are 2.2 million people in Gaza. Today in Gaza, more than 10% have been killed or wounded, more than 200,000. This is not a soft war.
Impact of the Conflict and Official Figures
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, Israeli forces during the war killed nearly 65,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 164,000.
During the conflict, Israeli officials repeatedly questioned these figures, attempting to discredit casualty data, often citing information provided by Hamas.
The remarks were made on Tuesday, but were widely covered over the weekend after Israeli media released an audio recording of the remarks. CNN confirmed the existence of a copy of the audio and determined that Halevi did indeed speak at that event.
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Halevi resigned in March due to the IDF’s failures to prevent Hamas’s attack on October 7, 2023. He also noted that the army’s chief military advocate never constrained his actions or orders. Major-General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi – the IDF’s chief military advocate – became the subject of criticism by right-wing forces, who accused him of hindering the victory.
«I have never restricted anyone,» Halevi said. «Nor the military prosecutor – by the way, she has no authority to restrain me. There are legal advisers who say: we will know how to legally defend this in the world, and this is important for the State of Israel.»
These statements fuel the debate over the scale of the tragedy in the region and how official data are presented to the public, underscoring the interpretation of events and the political consequences for the country’s leadership.
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