According to an investigation by the Guardian and its partners, the vast majority of the dead in Gaza are civilians. A classified Israeli military intelligence database shows that of the 53,000 Palestinians killed (as of May this year), only 8,900 have been identified as Hamas or Islamic Jihad fighters. This means that five out of six victims were civilians, approximately 83 %.
Such a high proportion of civilian casualties is extreme in modern warfare. According to experts contacted by the Guardian, similar proportions were only found in the Rwandan genocide or the Srebrenica massacre.
One big bluff?
The Israeli army has not denied the database itself, but merely told the Guardian that "the figures are incorrect", without specifying which ones. Yet even former senior officers admit that the officially published figures for dead fighters are greatly exaggerated. Retired general Itzhak Brik said the figures reported by politicians are "one big bluff" and that soldiers on the ground themselves confirm that most of those killed are civilians.
The Guardian reports that according to internal rules, soldiers could report any Palestinian killed as a "terrorist" without any verification of identity. One intelligence source summed it up by saying: "We only upgrade people to terrorist after they are dead."
Hunger, siege and mass displacement
The situation for civilians has deteriorated further since May. Hundreds of people have died trying to get food in army zones after the Israeli army cut humanitarian aid. The remaining residents, already pushed into just one-fifth of Gaza, have been forced by the new order to move further. The Guardian warns that another offensive could have disastrous consequences for the civilian population.
The nature of war
Mary Kaldor of the London School of Economics, told the Guardian that Gaza represents "a campaign of targeted assassinations with no regard for civilians". She said the proportion of civilian casualties was comparable to conflicts where armies have deliberately targeted unarmed populations, such as in Sudan and Yemen. This may suggest that the aim is not to defeat Hamas but to control the population and territory through mass violence and displacement.
Genocidal rhetoric
According to the Guardian, Israeli politicians and generals often use language that experts describe as genocidal. The former head of military intelligence Aharon Haliva for example, said that for every Israeli killed in the 7 October 2023 attacks, 50 Palestinians must die, "and it doesn't matter if they are children".
Many soldiers themselves testify that Palestinians are considered legitimate targets indiscriminately. One member of a unit in Rafah described his unit shooting at anyone who crossed an "imaginary line" - including children and women.
The breakdown of civilian protection
Neta Crawford of Oxford University, told the Guardian that Israel's tactics represented a "disturbing abandonment" of rules that were meant to protect civilians since the 1970s. Bombing densely populated areas and destroying infrastructure, she said, showed that protecting civilians was no longer part of the military calculus.
The Guardian/gnews.cz - GH
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