After years of rejecting casualty figures issued by Gaza’s Health Ministry, the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) have now accepted that the reported death toll from the Israel – Gaza war is largely accurate, according to an Israeli media report.
An investigation published by Haaretz said IDF officials have confirmed that the ministry’s estimate placing the number of Palestinians killed at more than 71,000 broadly reflects the scale of fatalities since the war began following the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel.
The Gaza Health Ministry has stated that 71,667 people have been killed since the start of hostilities. Of these, 492 deaths were recorded after a ceasefire agreement was finalised in October 2025. The ministry’s figures only count deaths caused directly by Israeli military action and do not include people who may have died from starvation, lack of medical care, or disease linked to the conflict.
According to Haaretz, IDF sources said the total figure does not include residents still missing and possibly buried under rubble, suggesting the real toll could be higher. The Israeli military has begun analysing the data to determine how many of the dead were combatants and how many were civilians.
Previously, Israeli officials had questioned the reliability of Gaza’s casualty reporting. Before last year’s ceasefire, Israel claimed it had killed about 1,600 fighters since the initial Hamas attack, along with an estimated 22,000 combatants during the course of the war.
The Gaza Health Ministry maintains that around 90 percent of the victims have been identified by name and official identification numbers, a method that has been reviewed and considered broadly reliable by multiple international organisations, foreign governments, humanitarian agencies, and independent researchers.
Several media reports and humanitarian assessments have indicated that a large proportion of those killed were civilians. Analysts have attributed this in part to the nature of the fighting, which relied heavily on aerial bombardment and artillery strikes rather than sustained ground combat.
International aid agencies operating in Gaza have also reported that large numbers of women and children are among the dead. Experts have warned that the humanitarian impact of the conflict extends beyond direct violence, as shortages of food, clean water and medical supplies have caused widespread suffering.
The IDF said its review of casualty data is ongoing and will seek to provide a clearer breakdown of civilian and combatant deaths. The military reiterated that its operations were aimed at dismantling militant infrastructure, while critics continue to accuse Israel of causing disproportionate harm to civilians.
The findings come amid growing international pressure on Israel over its conduct in Gaza and renewed calls for accountability, humanitarian access, and long term political solutions to the conflict.
