Classified Israeli military figures confirm staggering civilian death toll in Gaza

Figures from a classified Israeli military database have confirmed Gaza's staggeringly high civilian death toll, despite years of Israeli scepticism over Palestinian health ministry figures.

A joint investigation by the Guardian, the Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine and the Hebrew-language outlet Local Call found that as of May 2025 Israeli intelligence officials listed 8,900 named fighters from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad as dead or “probably dead."

At that time the Palestinian health ministry said at least 53,000 people had been killed in Gaza, meaning that the figures acquired by the investigation suggest an 83 percent civilian death toll.