Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, facing criticism due to civilian casualties from military operations in the Gaza Strip, has claimed that civilian deaths are fewer than reported. He argued that half of the counted deaths were Hamas fighters, a claim at odds with the UN and Hamas.
According to the Times of Israel (TOI), Netanyahu appeared on the May 12th podcast of Call Me Back, operated by renowned American columnist Dan Senor. During the podcast, he claimed that since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 last year, about 30,000 people have died in the Gaza Strip due to Israel’s retaliatory operations. Among the deaths, he estimated that 14,000 were Hamas fighters, and probably the remaining 16,000 were civilians. Netanyahu stated that the ratio of fighters to civilians among the dead in the Gaza Strip is maintained at 1:1.
According to Al Arabiya, the Hamas-influenced Gaza Health Department announced on May 13th that the cumulative death toll in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, was 35,091. The Health Department reported that over 60% of the deceased were children and women, and emphasized that there were 78,827 injuries.
Under the influence of Hamas, the Gaza Health Department is surrounded by suspicions that its tally cannot be trusted. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reduced the number of child and female deaths in the Gaza Strip by about half in a report on May 8th. They argued that only those whose identity and date of death were confirmed should be included in the death toll. With this, UN spokesman Farhan Haq announced on May 13th at a briefing that the death toll in the Gaza Strip as of April 30 was 34,622. He explained that of the total deaths, 24,686 were identified, of which 7,797 were children. Women were 4,959, the elderly were 1,924, and men were 16,000.
Hamas’ combat forces, known to be about 30,000 to 40,000 in size, were organized into 24 battalions before the attack last year. Israeli authorities claimed that by last month, they had eliminated 13,000 Hamas members and that 19 Hamas battalions were either incapacitated or eliminated.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu emphasized that he could not stop the military operation to root out the remnants of Hamas in the southern Gaza Strip until Hamas is eliminated. He expressed gratitude for the military support provided by the US, saying, “If Israel has to stand alone, we will do so.”
On the same topic, the US opposed Israel’s operation in Rafah due to concerns about civilian casualties and restrained Israel again on May 13th. According to the US State Department, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reaffirmed during a call with Sameh Shoukry, the Egyptian Foreign Minister, that the US does not support a large-scale ground military operation in Rafah, where more than a million people are taking refuge.
