A leaked Israeli military database shows that civilians make up the overwhelming majority of Palestinians killed in Gaza, with 83 percent of recorded fatalities non-combatants, according to a joint investigation by The Guardian, +972 Magazine, and Local Call.
The investigation revealed that, as of May 2025, Israeli military intelligence had identified 8,900 Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) fighters as confirmed or “probably” dead. Over the same period, Gaza’s health authorities reported at least 53,000 deaths, meaning fighters accounted for just 17%.
Conflict researchers said the proportion of civilian deaths is nearly unprecedented in modern warfare, comparable only to mass atrocities such as the Rwandan genocide, the Srebrenica massacre, and Russia’s siege of Mariupol.
Rights groups and genocide scholars argue the findings reinforce accusations that Israel is committing genocide, pointing to both the death toll and deliberate policies of starvation.
The Israeli military did not deny the existence of the database but dismissed the reported figures as “incorrect”, without clarifying which numbers it disputed.
Leaked audio of former military intelligence chief Aharon Haliva underscored the mindset behind the campaign. “The fact that there are already 50,000 dead in Gaza is necessary and required for future generations,” he said, adding that Palestinians “need a Nakba every now and then to feel the consequences.”
Since March, Gaza’s death toll has risen to over 62,000, with more than 1,57,000 wounded, according to local health authorities.