The War in Numbers
The war that started on October 7th 2023 with the counter-offensive of the Palestinian national resistance, called the Al-Aqsa-Flood, comes along with a series of astonishing numbers that by themselves show the extend of this conflict. We have reported earlier on the war and the international solidarity with Palestine around the globe by the peoples of the world.
On Palestinian side there are at least 10,818 killed (including 4,412 children, 192 paramedics and medical staff, 92 UN staff), 26,905 wounded (70% women and children) and 2,650 missing in the Gaza Strip. In the occupied West Bank it is 190 killed and 2,465 wounded. Of the around 3,000 combatants who stormed into Israel around 1,000 gave their lives, while around 200 were captured. About 1,500,000 Palestinians are lately being displaced. This comes along with 85 killed and 29,000 displaced in Lebanon, as well as 16 killed and 12 wounded in Syria.
On Israeli side the casualties are 1,457 dead (including 355 soldiers, 59 police, 10 Shin Bet agents – as reported by Israel; the leadership of Hamas on the contrary states that during the action of 7th of October no Israeli civilians were killed), 7,264 wounded and 245 captured, while 28 are missing and around 200,000 evacuated. Israel lost at least 2 military bases and 1 police station temporarily and quite a lot of military equipment.
The 2014 Gaza War (named “Operation Protective Edge” by Israel) that lasted from 8th of July until 26th of August caused 73 dead and more than 500 wounded on aggressors side. 2,310 Palestinians were killed.
The Gaza War in 2008/09 (named “Operation Cast Lead” by Israel) took place from 27th of December 2008 to 18th of January 2009. It left 13 Israelis dead and 518 wounded in their aggression, while 1,417 Palestinians were killed, 5,303 wounded and 120 abducted.
The 2006 Lebanon War or the “July War” took place from 12th of July until 14th of August. Israel lost 121 soldiers dead and 1,244 wounded in its aggression, while on Lebanese side there were up to 1,919 dead.
These three armed conflicts took approximately as long as the ongoing. The Second Intifada from 28th of September 2000 to 8th of February 2005 lasted close to four and a half years and caused 1,010 left dead on the Israeli side, while up to 3,354 Palestinians were killed.
Estimated 1,250 Israelis were killed in the mentioned armed conflicts in the first quarter of the 21th century until the Al-Aqsa-Flood, while it was some 10,000 casualties on the resistance’s side. The current ongoing war vastly extend this numbers in only one month of combat compared to years of aggression and resistance. This shows that the superlatives usually used to describe it are somehow reasonable. According to just the numbers its intensity could be compared to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, a war between the two largest armies in Europe, that comes along with around 10 to 15 thousand casualties per month.
