THE civilian death rate in Gaza matches universally acknowledged genocides, according to classified Israeli military data.
The figures – published following an investigation by +972 Magazine, Local Call, and The Guardian – show that 83% of the people killed by the Israel Defence Forces in Gaza have been civilians.
As of May 2025, IDF officials listed 8900 named fighters from militant groups as killed or probably killed. At the time, the health authority in Gaza reported 53,000 Palestinians had been killed.
Data from the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP), which tracks civilians deaths in conflicts globally, shows that the proportion of civilian deaths has been higher in only three instances since 1989: the Rwandan genocide, the Srebenica genocide (though not the Bosnian war overall), and Russia’s 2022 siege of Mariupol (though not the Ukraine war overall).
The UCDP’s Therése Pettersson said of the 83% figure for Gaza: “That proportion of civilians among those killed would be unusually high, particularly as it has been going on for such a long time.
“If you single out a particular city or battle in another conflict, you could find similar rates, but very rarely overall.”
The news comes at the same time as the world’s leading authority on food crises said that Gaza City is gripped by famine – and that it is likely to spread across the territory without a ceasefire and an end to restrictions on humanitarian aid.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said famine occurring in Gaza City could spread south to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis by the end of next month.
The IPC determination comes after months of warnings by aid groups that Israel’s restrictions of food and other aid into Gaza, and its military offensive, were causing high levels of starvation among Palestinian civilians, particularly children.
The grim milestone marks the first time the IPC has confirmed a famine in the Middle East.
More than half a million people in Gaza, about a quarter of the population, face catastrophic levels of hunger, and many are at risk of dying from malnutrition-related causes, the IPC report said.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu – who is wanted for arrest for war crimes by the International Criminal Court – has denied there is hunger in Gaza, calling reports of starvation “lies”.
After the publication of images of emaciated children in Gaza and reports of hunger-related deaths, Israel announced measures to let more humanitarian aid in. However, the UN and Palestinians in Gaza say that what aid is entering is far below what is needed.
Netanyahu is accused of perpetrating a genocide in Gaza by international experts including leading Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, who argued that their government was using Hamas as a pretext to commit atrocities.
