Israel accepts health authorities’ Gaza death toll is broadly accurate, saying 70,000 have diedIsraeli military’s U-turn in accepting official figures comes after years of attacking data as ‘Hamas propaganda’The Guardian/UK, Jan 30, 2026
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 exceeded 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”.
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Israel was still reviewing how many of the dead were civilians, the Times of Israel said, but believed the overall toll compiled by Gaza health authorities was “largely accurate”.
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.More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/30/israel-military-gaza-death-toll-broadly-accurate
