In a significant and candid statement that cuts through the fog of war, former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi recently acknowledged a grim reality: more than one in ten Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have been killed or injured since the conflict began nearly two years ago.
Speaking last week in the community of Ein HaBesor in southern Israel, Halevi, who led the IDF for the first 17 months of the war, stated, “There are 2.2 million people in Gaza. There are in Gaza today more than 10% who were killed or injured, more than 200,000. This is not a gentle war.”
This figure is particularly notable because it closely aligns with the casualty numbers reported by the Palestinian Ministry of Health. For months, Israeli officials have repeatedly challenged these figures, casting doubt on the reported death and injury tolls in the besieged enclave and accusing the ministry of relying on data supplied by Hamas. Yet, Halevi’s admission, from a former top Israeli military leader, lends unexpected credence to those previously disputed statistics, which currently cite nearly 65,000 Palestinians killed and over 164,000 injured.
Halevi’s remarks, made on Tuesday, were not widely reported until the weekend when Israeli media outlets published audio recordings of his comments. CNN later obtained a copy of the audio and confirmed its authenticity with an attendee at the event. The IDF spokesperson, when approached for comment, stated, “We won’t comment on matters said in closed conversations,” adhering to the usual protocol for unofficial remarks.
The former chief of staff, who resigned in March over the IDF’s failures to prevent Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack, also touched upon another sensitive issue: the legal oversight of military operations. He pushed back against right-wing campaigns targeting Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, the IDF’s chief military advocate, who has been accused of hindering military victory by restricting operations.
“Not once did anyone restrict me,” Halevi asserted. “Not the military prosecutor – by the way, she has no authority to restrict me. There are legal advisers who say: we will know how to defend this legally in the world, and this is important for the State of Israel.” This statement underscores the military’s awareness of international legal scrutiny and the need to justify its actions on the global stage, even amid intense conflict.
Halevi’s frank acknowledgment of the immense human toll in Gaza represents a significant moment. It’s a powerful, if unofficial, confirmation from a high-ranking Israeli source of the devastating scale of casualties, highlighting the brutal reality on the ground and potentially shifting the narrative around the conflict’s cost to civilian lives. His words, “This is not a gentle war,” resonate deeply, forcing a confrontation with the stark numbers and the profound human suffering they represent.
