The AFP news agency first reported the Israeli assessment on Monday, citing a briefing for foreign media by senior Israeli military officials. Asked about reports that about 5,000\u00a0Hamas\u00a0militants had been killed since October 7, one of the officials replied, according to AFP: \u201cThe numbers are more or less right.\u201d <\/p>\n
According to figures compiled by the Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza, almost 16,000 people have died since October 7. The ministry\u2019s figures don\u2019t distinguish between combatants and civilians. Conricus\u2019 statement implied that more than 10,000 civilians have died in the conflict. <\/p>\n
Conricus added: \u201cI can say that if that is true \u2013 and I think that our numbers will be corroborated \u2013\u00a0if you compare that ratio to any other conflict in urban terrain between a military and a terrorist organization using civilians as their human shields, and embedded in the civilian population, you will find that that ratio is tremendous, tremendously positive, and perhaps unique in the world.\u201d <\/p>\n
According to the AFP report, an unidentified Israeli official said that it was hoped the ratio will be \u201cmuch lower\u201d in the next phase of the war. \u201cI\u2019m not saying it\u2019s not bad that we have a ratio of two to one,\u201d the official was quoted as saying. <\/p>\n
The IDF estimates that Hamas was comprised of around 30,000 fighters before October 7, when it launched an unprecedented attack on Israel, killing more than 1,200 people and taking more than 240 hostage. In response, Israel has vowed to eliminate the group once and for all. <\/p>\n
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told journalists during a press conference on Saturday that the military has killed \u201cthousands of terrorists.\u201d The Israeli military has not officially published any estimates of those killed. <\/p>\n
AFP reported that the Israeli military official, when asked to confirm reports that around 5,000\u00a0Hamas\u00a0militants had been killed, replied: \u201cThe numbers are more or less right.\u201d <\/p>\n
Conricus said the IDF aims ultimately to obtain accurate numbers of civilians and combatants killed, and said he thought the figures would be known before the end of the war. <\/p>\n
He clarified the definition of Hamas militants, saying that when the Israeli military reported how many fighters it had killed, it was referring to combatants. \u201cOur definition is combatants, people who are fighting,\u201d he said. In Gaza, thousands of residents are employed in Hamas-run administrative agencies but carry out civilian duties. <\/p>\n
More people have died in the current war than in any of Israel\u2019s past conflicts with either Hamas or other Islamic militants in the Gaza Strip. <\/p>\n
During the 50 days of hostilities in Gaza in 2014, 2,251 Palestinians were killed, of whom 1,462 were believed to be civilians, according to the United Nations. That equates to a ratio of 1.8 civilians for every non-civilian. <\/p>\n
A top US State Department official\u00a0told Congress last month\u00a0that while it was difficult to assess casualty figures while conflict was ongoing, she believed that the true death toll could be even higher than what is being publicly discussed. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt is very difficult for any of us to assess what the rate of casualties are,\u201d said Barbara Leaf, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs. \u201cWe think they\u2019re very high, frankly. And it could be that they\u2019re even higher than are being cited. We\u2019ll know only after the guns fall silent.\u201d <\/p>\n
The US is piling pressure on Israel to limit civilian casualties as outrage about the death toll grows globally and at home in the US. <\/p>\n
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Saturday emphasized that the protection of civilians in Gaza is crucial to Israel\u2019s long-term success against Hamas. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn this kind of a fight, the center of gravity is the civilian population,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd if you drive them into the arms of the enemy, you replace a tactical victory with a strategic defeat.\u201d <\/p>\n
Austin\u2019s comments came the day after Israel resumed its combat operations against Hamas in Gaza. <\/p>\n
Austin added that he has \u201cpersonally pushed Israeli leaders to avoid civilian casualties\u201d and \u201cshun irresponsible rhetoric\u201d while expanding access to humanitarian aid. <\/p>\n\n
The AFP news agency first reported the Israeli assessment on Monday, citing a briefing for foreign media by senior Israeli military officials. Asked about reports that about 5,000\u00a0Hamas\u00a0militants had been killed since October 7, one of the officials replied, according to AFP: \u201cThe numbers are more or less right.\u201d According to figures compiled by the <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":12531,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12530","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}