The former Israeli military chief said more than one in ten people in the enclave had been killed or injured since the war began almost two years ago.
Speaking in the community of Ain Hebezer in southern Israel last week, former Israeli Defense Forces Prime Minister General Herzi Halevi said, “There are 2.2 million people in Gaza. Today, there are over 10% of people killed or injured in Gaza.
Israeli forces say they have killed nearly 65,000 Palestinians and injured more than 164,000 people.
During the war, Israeli officials repeatedly challenged the Ministry of Health figures in an attempt to question the deaths and casualties reported in the enclaves. They also denounced the Ministry for relying on the data provided by Hamas.
Halevi’s comments came on Tuesday, but were not widely reported by Israeli media until the weekend. Many of them have released audio recordings of their comments. CNN obtained a copy of the audio and confirmed with attendees that Halevi had spoken at the event. Halevi was Chief of Staff for the first 17 months of the war.
An IDF spokesman said he would not comment on the issues mentioned in the closed conversation.
Halevi, who resigned in March of the IDF’s failure to prevent the attack on October 7, 2023, said the military’s chief lawyer had never restricted his actions or orders. Major General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, the IDF’s leading military advocate, has been the target of a right-wing campaign that accused him of preventing victory by limiting military operations.
“No one restricted me,” Halevi said. “I’m not a military prosecutor. By the way, she has no authority to restrict me. The legal counsel knows how to legally protect this in the world. This is important to the state of Israel.”
