{"id":55061,"date":"2025-09-13T19:00:36","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T03:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/?p=55061"},"modified":"2025-09-13T19:00:36","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T03:00:36","slug":"we-took-the-gloves-off-former-israeli-military-chief-admits-220000-gaza-casualties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2025\/09\/13\/we-took-the-gloves-off-former-israeli-military-chief-admits-220000-gaza-casualties\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We Took the Gloves Off\u2019: Former Israeli Military Chief Admits 220,000 Gaza Casualties"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Belying persistent efforts by <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/israel\">Israel<\/a> and its defenders to deny the staggering number of Palestinians killed during the 23-month <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/gaza\">Gaza<\/a> genocide, the general who led the Israel Defense Forces during most of the war acknowledged this week that around 220,000 Palestinians have been killed or wounded.<\/p>\n<p>Former Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi \u2013 who stepped down in March after leading the IDF since January 2023\u2014<a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ynet.co.il\/news\/article\/h1i4qhyjlx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told<\/a> residents of Ein Habor in southern Israel earlier this week that \u201cover 10%\u201d of Gaza\u2019s population of approximately 2.2 million \u201cwere killed or injured\u201d since October 2023.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is not a gentle war, we took the gloves off from the first minute\u201d Halevi said, adding that \u201cnot once\u201d has any legal authority \u201climited\u201d his wartime conduct.<\/p>\n<div class=\"embed-twitter\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I&#39;ve lost count of all the Israeli apologists who have queried the Gaza health ministry statistics. But as expected, they were a massive under-count:<\/p>\n<p>&quot;&#39;We took the gloves off\u2019: ex-IDF chief confirms Gaza casualties over 200,000&quot;<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/5TrwAfiBb9\">https:\/\/t.co\/5TrwAfiBb9<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; William Dalrymple (@DalrympleWill) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DalrympleWill\/status\/1966559078676611196?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 12, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/div>\n<p>Following the October 7 attack, the IDF <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/12\/26\/world\/middleeast\/israel-hamas-gaza-bombing.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">dramatically loosened<\/a> its rules of engagement, effectively allowing an unlimited number of civilians to be killed when targeting a single Hamas member, no matter how low-ranking.<\/p>\n<p>The IDF\u2019s use of massive ordnance, <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/bombing-gaza\" target=\"_self\">including<\/a> US-supplied 1,000- and 2,000-pound \u201cbunker buster\u201d bombs capable of leveling entire city blocks, and <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/gaza-civilian-casualties-2666414736\" target=\"_self\">utilization of artificial intelligence<\/a> to select targets has resulted in staggering numbers of civilian deaths, including numerous instances of dozens or more people being <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/israel-bomb-refugee-camp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">massacred<\/a> in single strikes.<\/p>\n<p>Halevi insisted that \u201cwe are doing everything in accordance with international law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague disagrees, having <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/icc-arrest-warrant-netanyahu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">issued warrants for the arrest<\/a> of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes including <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/famine-expert-israel-s-starvation-of-gaza-most-minutely-designed-and-controlled-since-wwii\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">forced starvation<\/a> and murder. Israel\u2019s conduct in the war is also the subject of an International Court of Justice (ICJ) <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/south-africa-icj-genocide-israel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">genocide case<\/a> filed by South Africa and supported by around two dozen nations.<\/p>\n<p>Halevi\u2019s admission tracks with official Gaza Health Ministry figures showing at least 228,815 people killed or wounded by Israeli forces in Gaza. GHM also says that around 9,000 people are missing and presumed dead and buried beneath rubble. Experts \u2013 including the authors of multiple peer-reviewed studies in the prestigious British medical journal <em>The Lancet<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/lancet-gaza-death-toll\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">assert<\/a> that the actual death toll in Gaza is much higher than reported.<\/p>\n<p>The remarks by Halevi come less than a month after a <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.972mag.com\/israeli-intelligence-database-83-percent-civilians-militants\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">joint investigation<\/a> by Israeli journalist and filmmaker Yuval Abraham of <em>+972 Magazine<\/em> and <em>Local Call<\/em> and <em>Guardian<\/em> senior international affairs correspondent Emma Graham-Harrison <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/civilian-deaths-in-gaza-2673907835\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">revealed<\/a> that, as of May, 5 in 6 Palestinians \u2013 or 83% \u2013 killed by the IDF through the first 19 months of the war were civilians. The report, which drew from classified IDF intelligence data, blew the lid off of Israeli government claims of a historically low civilian-to-combatant kill ratio.<\/p>\n<p>Responding to Halevi\u2019s admission, <em>Drop Site News<\/em> national security and foreign affairs reporter Murtaza Hussain <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MazMHussain\/status\/1966576461818540199\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a> on social media that he is \u201clooking forward to the contortions of people whose paychecks are dependent on denying that any of this is the case.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Israeli officials and media, along with their supportive US counterparts during both the Biden and Trump administrations, have generally <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/gaza-death-toll\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cast doubt<\/a> or <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thejc.com\/news\/world\/hamas-casualty-numbers-are-statistically-impossible-says-data-science-professor-rc0tzedc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">outright denied<\/a> GHM figures\u2014which have been <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mekomit.co.il\/%d7%94%d7%a6%d7%91%d7%90-%d7%91%d7%93%d7%a7-%d7%95%d7%9e%d7%a6%d7%90-%d7%a9%d7%93%d7%99%d7%95%d7%95%d7%97%d7%99-%d7%94%d7%94%d7%a8%d7%95%d7%92%d7%99%d7%9d-%d7%91%d7%9e%d7%a9%d7%a8%d7%93-%d7%94%d7%91\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">found<\/a> to be <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lemonde.fr\/en\/les-decodeurs\/article\/2024\/10\/13\/why-the-gaza-health-ministry-s-death-count-is-considered-reliable_6729264_8.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reliable<\/a> by the IDF, <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/world\/middle-east\/u-s-officials-have-growing-confidence-in-death-toll-reports-from-gaza-b3b5183a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">US officials<\/a>, and <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/gaza-death-toll-2668700991\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">researchers<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 by linking them to Hamas. This comes in addition to widespread Israeli and US denials of Israel\u2019s forced famine and starvation deaths and IDF war crimes in Gaza.<\/p>\n<p>However, there have been rare instances of frankness, including when Barbara Leaf, a senior State Department official during the Biden administration, <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/gaza-death-toll-2666221271\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a> that Gaza casualties could be \u201ceven higher than are being cited.\u201d Biden-era State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/upholdreality\/status\/1810821190484644274\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">also admitted<\/a> that the Gaza death toll \u201ccould very well be more\u201d than GHM reported, even as he <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/truthout.org\/articles\/former-top-biden-spox-admits-israel-sabotaged-ceasefire-deals-as-us-blamed-hamas\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">lied to the public<\/a> about who was thwarting ceasefire efforts.<\/p>\n<p><i>Brett Wilkins is is staff writer for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/\">Common Dreams<\/a>. Based in San Francisco, his work covers issues of social justice, human rights and war and peace. This originally appeared at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/\">CommonDreams<\/a> and is reprinted with the author\u2019s permission.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Belying persistent efforts by Israel and its defenders to deny the staggering number of Palestinians killed during the 23-month Gaza genocide, the general who led the Israel Defense Forces during most of the war acknowledged this week that around 220,000 Palestinians have been killed or wounded. Former Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":372,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"coauthors":[806],"class_list":["post-55061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"meta_box":{"disable_donate_message":"0","custom_donate_message":"","subtitle":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/372"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55061"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55061\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55066,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55061\/revisions\/55066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55061"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=55061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}