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Short answer
The claim that “83% of Gaza’s dead are civilians” is false and based on a distorted reading of Israeli data. The article only counts 8,900 confirmed named terrorists, ignoring that most combatants were not identified. In reality, the Begin-Sadat Center estimates 23,000 terrorists killed until January 2025, before fighting resumed in March, with another 2,100 eliminated from March to August, bringing the total to about 25,000 militant deaths.
Presenting the 83% civilian figure as fact is a deliberate manipulation of incomplete data. It’s a lie hiding the real militant toll while inflating the civilian death count.
Long answer
The claim that “83% of Gaza’s dead are civilians” is false and deliberately misleading. It is based on a selective reading of Israeli military data that omits critical context.
The 83% figure comes from a misinterpretation of a classified IDF database managed by the Military Intelligence Directorate (Aman), which tracks known members of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. From this list, the IDF confirmed approximately 8,900 deaths since the start of the war. Crucially, this includes only operatives identified by name; most combatants and unlisted militants are not included.
The actual number of Palestinian militants killed is far higher. The Begin-Sadat Center estimates about 23,000 killed until January 2025, before fighting resumed in March, with another 2,100 eliminated from March to August, bringing the total to around 25,000.
By contrast, the Gaza Health Ministry, controlled by Hamas, reported a total death toll of 53,000 by March 2025. Using only the 8,900 confirmed names to calculate civilian deaths inflates the civilian proportion to 83%, ignoring the thousands of unlisted militants. Presenting the 83% figure as definitive civilian casualties is a deliberate manipulation of incomplete data.
This statistic obscures the true scale of militant losses and misrepresents the reality on the ground. A closer look at the data shows that a far higher share of Gaza deaths were combatants than the 83% claim suggests. Anyone citing this figure without full context is spreading disinformation.
The truth requires counting both named and unnamed militants—shattering the fake 83% claim. Hamas doesn’t disclose the number of its dead fighters. This omission inflates the perceived proportion of civilian deaths and enables the narrative that “almost all” casualties are civilians.The claim that 83% of Gaza’s dead are civilians is a deliberate distortion, hiding the real militant toll while inflating the civilian death count.
