The Israeli military has reportedly told Israeli journalists that it believes around 70,000 Palestinians have been killed during the war in Gaza, effectively acknowledging that casualty figures released by Gaza’s health ministry are broadly reliable.
According to Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, military officials said during a briefing on Thursday, “We estimate that about 70,000 Gazans were killed in the war, not including the missing.”
Israel’s public broadcaster Kan 11 attributed the assessment to the Coordinator of Government Affairs in the Territories, adding that Israeli authorities are now working to determine how many of the dead were civilians versus militants.
The acknowledgment closely mirrors figures released a day earlier by Gaza’s Palestinian Ministry of Health, which said 71,667 Palestinians have been killed since the conflict began, with 171,343 wounded.
The ministry also reported that 492 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks after a ceasefire took effect in mid-October.
While the ministry does not distinguish between civilians and fighters, it has consistently published detailed lists of those killed.
Throughout the early stages of the war, Israeli officials repeatedly challenged the credibility of the health ministry’s statistics, arguing that the body operates under Hamas control and inflates casualty numbers.
However, an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson declined to confirm the figures reportedly shared with journalists.
“The IDF clarifies that the details published do not reflect official IDF data,” the spokesperson said. “Any publication or report on this matter will be released through official and orderly channels.” The spokesperson also declined to say whether the military maintains its own casualty data or if such figures would ever be made public, adding, “We don’t have any further comment beyond the information we already gave.”
Despite the lack of an official public tally, senior Israeli military figures have previously alluded to the scale of casualties in private remarks.
In August, Israel’s Channel 12 aired an audio recording of former IDF intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, who said, “The fact that there are already 50,000 dead in Gaza is necessary and required for future generations.”
While the timing of his statement was unclear, reported deaths in Gaza exceeded 50,000 by March 2025.
Similarly, in September, former IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi described the human cost of the war, saying, “There are 2.2 million people in Gaza. There are in Gaza today more than 10% who were killed or injured, more than 200,000. This is not a gentle war.”
His remarks closely aligned with health ministry figures at the time, which placed the death toll at nearly 65,000, with more than 164,000 injured.
