GAZA -Hamas’s October 7, 2023 assault on southern Israel killed about 1,200 people, mostly unarmed civilians, in what remains the deadliest attack in the country’s history.
In response, Israel launched a massive military campaign against Hamas in Gaza, which the United Nations says has since left more than 62,000 Palestinians dead. A further 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank.
The Gaza death toll is based on health ministry figures that do not distinguish between combatants and civilians.
Israel disputes the numbers, insisting its forces take “extensive measures” to protect civilians and accusing both the UN and Gaza authorities of exaggerating casualties.
“Any civilian casualty is a tragedy for sure. Israel seeks to minimise the civilian casualties, while Hamas seeks to maximise them,” Ophir Falk, foreign policy adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said last year. “We’re the only Jewish country on Earth, and that is our policy to minimise civilian casualties … because it’s the right thing to do, and because it’s effective.”
Israeli media outlets have echoed the government line, calling the army’s approach in Gaza “unprecedented in urban warfare” for its speed and caution.
But a classified Israeli military intelligence database, revealed by the Guardian, paints a different picture—showing that 83 per cent of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces as of May were civilians.
Civilian Harm in War: Global Lessons
The debate over civilian harm is not unique to Israel. The United States only began placing significant emphasis on protecting non-combatants after the Vietnam War, when massacres like My Lai—where some 500 villagers were killed in 1968—sparked global outrage.
Since the 1990s, the US military has developed formal processes to estimate collateral damage before airstrikes.
These rules, updated as recently as July 2024, often require altering or cancelling an operation if civilian risk is deemed too high compared to military advantage.
Yet such precautions are not always observed. In Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria, US forces were criticised for loosening safeguards when under pressure to achieve quick battlefield gains.
Israel’s Rules of Engagement under Scrutiny
Israel has also faced allegations of relaxed engagement standards since October 7.
The New York Times reported that the Israel Defense Forces authorised strikes that allowed commanders to risk up to 20 civilian deaths per Hamas target.
One of the most devastating examples came in July 2024, when an airstrike on Hamas commander Mohammed Deif killed at least 90 civilians and wounded more than 300.
Israel’s own data further suggests that the government has overstated the number of militants killed, casting doubt on the official civilian-to-militant death ratio presented publicly.
