Israel\u2019s military has accepted the death toll compiled by health authorities in Gaza is broadly accurate, marking a U-turn after years of official attacks on the data.<\/p>\n
A senior security official briefed Israeli journalists, saying about 70,000 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli attacks on the territory since October 2023, excluding those missing.<\/p>\n
It is the first time Israel has publicly estimated the toll from the war in Gaza<\/a>. Previously the government and military had only provided figures for militants Israel claimed to have killed.<\/p>\n Gaza health authorities said the direct toll from Israeli attacks had exceeded 71,660 people, with at least 10,000 presumed buried in the rubble of bombed buildings.<\/p>\n For more than two years, Israeli officials and media had attacked<\/a> the Palestinian figures as \u201cHamas propaganda\u201d and dismissed them as \u201cnot accurate\u201d.<\/p>\n The abrupt shift in stance raises broader questions about Israel\u2019s defence of its campaign in Gaza. A UN commission, rights groups and scholars have accused Israel of committing genocide in the territory<\/a>.<\/p>\n map of deaths<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWhat other accusations could turn out to be true?\u201d the Israeli newspaper Haaretz said<\/a> after the briefing. \u201cThe Israeli public must ask itself what this belated recognition indicates about the army and the government\u2019s credibility regarding Israel\u2019s conduct in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n It is also likely to intensify scrutiny of civilian casualties in Gaza. The Israeli military previously claimed to have killed 22,000 militants in Gaza, suggesting that, by its own count, more than two-thirds of the 70,000 dead were non-combatants.<\/p>\n That figure is significantly below the 83% civilian toll indicated<\/a> by a classified Israeli military database, but well above the 50% casualty rate previously claimed by Israel\u2019s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.<\/p>\n Israel was still reviewing how many of the dead were civilians, the Times of Israel said<\/a>, but believed the overall toll compiled by Gaza health authorities was \u201clargely accurate\u201d.<\/p>\n A military spokesperson declined to confirm or deny the figure given at the briefing, saying only that \u201cthe details published do not reflect official IDF data\u201d.<\/p>\n The Palestinian database does not provide a breakdown of fighters and non-combatants. It does identify most of the dead by name, date of birth and Israeli-issued identity numbers.<\/p>\n