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Israel’s military has accepted the death toll compiled by health authorities in Gaza is broadly accurate, marking a U-turn after years of official attacks on the data.
A senior security official briefed Israeli journalists, saying about 70,000 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli attacks on the territory since October 2023, excluding those missing.
It is the first time Israel has publicly estimated the toll from the war in Gaza. Previously the government and military had only provided figures for militants Israel claimed to have killed.
Gaza health authorities said the direct toll from Israeli attacks had passed 71,660 people, with at least 10,000 presumed buried in the rubble of bombed buildings.
For more than two years, Israeli officials and media had attacked the Palestinian figures as “Hamas propaganda” and dismissed them as “not accurate”.
The abrupt shift in stance raises broader questions about Israel’s defence of its campaign in Gaza. A UN commission, rights groups and scholars have accused Israel of committing genocide in the territory.
“What other accusations could turn out to be true?” Haaretz said after the briefing. “The Israeli public must ask itself what this belated recognition indicates about the army and the government’s credibility regarding Israel’s conduct in Gaza.”
It is also likely to intensify scrutiny of civilian casualties in Gaza. The Israeli military previously claimed to have killed 22,000 militants in Gaza, suggesting by its own count, more than two-thirds of the 70,000 dead were non-combatants.
The figure is significantly below the 83% civilian toll indicated by a classified Israeli military database, but well above the 50% casualty rate previously claimed by Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel is still reviewing how many of the dead are civilians, the Times of Israel said, but said the overall toll compiled by Gaza health authorities is “largely accurate”.
A military spokesperson declined to confirm or deny the figure given at the briefing, saying only that “the details published do not reflect official IDF data”.
The Palestinian database does not provide a breakdown of fighters and non-combatants. It does identify most of the dead by name, date of birth and Israeli-issued identity numbers.
Israeli attacks on Gaza health authorities ignored a long track record of reliable record-keeping. During past wars in Gaza the final toll recognised by Israel and observers including the UN was broadly in line with Palestinian data.
There was little coverage or discussion of the death toll in Israeli media. Most major outlets attended the briefing, but with the exception of Haaretz, initially ignored the new figure.
Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper quoted the figure in a report focused on diplomatic manoeuvring between the US, Qatar and Israel. The report quoted an official, saying: “Our estimate is that roughly 70,000 Gazans were killed in the war, not including missing persons”.
The paper’s online outlet Ynet later published a short piece on the toll late on Thursday evening. It was not a headline on television news shows.
The Israeli military also said it will open the key Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt on Sunday, for the first time since Israeli forces seized control of the border area nearly two years ago, in May 2024.
Palestinians who left Gaza can now apply to return for the first time since the war began, a spokesperson said. A European Union force will supervise the crossing, but Israel will retain full control of everyone who enters and leaves, the spokesperson said.
Reopening Rafah has been presented as a central part of US efforts to push Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan for the territory firmly into a second stage. It will only be open to pedestrians, so will not ease shortages of food and shelter aid, medicine and other basic humanitarian goods in Gaza.
