At least 30,000 Palestinians have reportedly been killed in Gaza, and the United Kingdom** has verified Israel's claims about how many of those killed in Gaza were combatants. According to the Israeli military, Israeli forces have killed more than 10,000 fighters in airstrikes and ground operations in response to Hamas attacks that killed about 1,200 people.
But there are concerns about Israel's ability to distinguish between combatants and ordinary civilians. Biden, a self-proclaimed Zionist, had fully supported Israel's retaliation against Gaza, saying Israel had the right to self-defense, but also said in December that Israel had the support of the whole world and the United States, but "they are starting to lose that support through indiscriminate bombing."
The IDF has been defending its tactics, emphasizing that they are trying to strike Hamas fighters and infrastructure with precision while minimizing civilian deaths.
Hamas did not provide any military** figures. There were reports that one Hamas** admitted to having 6,000 fighters***, but Hamas later denied the number to the UK**.
Richard Brennan, the World Health Organization's regional emergency director, previously said that the death toll reported by the Gaza Ministry of Health was at least 30,035, a figure that could be trusted, saying that the Ministry of Health "has a very good data collection capacity" and that its previous reports were credible and "well-established", but this overall count of those killed did not distinguish between civilians and combatants. The Israeli side also did not deny this figure.
The latest statistics released by the Gaza authorities on February 29 show that more than 70% of those killed were women and children.
So, since these figures suggest that less than 30% of the people in *** are men, and some of them may be over combat age, experts have questioned Israel's claim that 10,000 fighters have been killed.
*'s verification unit has repeatedly asked the IDF for details of its methodology for calculating the death toll of Hamas fighters, but the military has not responded. Trying to piece together a more complete picture through the statements made by Israel and.
Since October, the IDF has been issuing press statements and social media posts claiming that the operation in Gaza has borne fruit. The number of dead fighters mentioned in these statements is more sporadic than the death toll regularly updated by the Hamas-run Ministry of Health.
A pre-war estimate by the Israel Defense Forces put Hamas at about 30,000 combatants in Gaza. In December, the IDF said the assessment that every Hamas fighter killed could kill two civilians was already "very positive" given the challenges faced on the battlefield.
On December 29, IDF spokesman Maj. Doron Spearman told Australia** that 8,000 Hamas fighters had been killed, saying the figure was based on intelligence, interrogation and satellite checks.
In mid-January, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went on to claim that Israel had "destroyed" two-thirds of Gaza's Hamas fighters.
On 19 February, The Times of Israel reported that the IDF also claimed that 12,000 Hamas fighters*** had asked the IDF about the number, and in their two replies to us, they said that the number was "about 10,000" and "more than 10,000", respectively.
The Israeli embassy in the UK told ** that they believe the total number of Hamas fighters in *** is "between 10,000 and 12,000".
But they also admit that it is difficult to distinguish between civilians and combatants, as many of them are not wearing military uniforms, and Hamas also has fighters aged 16 and 17.
Other factors mentioned by the experts that hindered the counting of combatants** included Hamas's activities in tunnels.
*The Verification Department reviewed all 280** posted on the IDF YouTube channel from Oct. 7 to Feb. 27 and found very little visual evidence of Hamas fighters being killed.
Only one of them**, posted on December 14, claims to show the bodies of Hamas fighters. Others appear to indicate cases of combatants being subjected to.
*Also tried to count the number of posts on the IDF's official Telegram channel where individuals claim to be Hamas fighters***. 160 posts were found claiming to kill a specific number of fighters, for a total of 714 deaths.
But there were also 247 posts that used claims that "several," "dozens," or "hundreds" were killed, so no meaningful overall count could be made.
Since the beginning of the IDF invasion of Gaza, Hamas has been accused of using civilians as human shields. But some experts fear that the IDF may count some non-combatants as combatants simply because they are Hamas-run Gazans.
Andreas Krieger, a senior lecturer in security studies at King's College London, said: "Israel has adopted a very broad definition of 'Hamas member' that includes anyone associated with the organization, including civil servants or administrators. ”
Death data from the Gaza Ministry of Health shows that the proportion of women and children dying has risen sharply compared to previous wars. A chart shows that the proportion of women and children who died in this conflict is much higher than in the conflict between Israel and Gaza in 2008 and 2014.
Rachel Taylor, executive director of the UK's Every Casualty Counts organization, believes that this "indicates a much higher civilian mortality rate".
Nearly half of Gaza's population is under the age of 18, and about 44% of the war deaths are also children, according to population data from Gaza authorities on February 29. Taylor said the death toll is closely correlated with the demographics of the total population, "suggesting that it was indiscriminate killings."