IDF confirms some 70,000 Gazans died in war, none from starvation.

[Twiglets1]

Article in The Jerusalem Post:

The IDF, for the first time on Wednesday, confirmed that approximately 70,000 Gazans were killed during the Israel-Hamas War, while disputing the percentage of civilian deaths claimed by the UN and declaring that no healthy persons died from starvation.

While various international groups have claimed that the overwhelming majority of those who died were civilians, the IDF continues to contest that number and has said that around 25,000 were Hamas terrorists. Further, the IDF has presented evidence that, through early 2024 – the period when Hamas was firing large daily rocket salvos – around 13% of their rockets were misfires, leading to the killing of many Palestinians.

There have also been other periods of time where Hamas executed large numbers of Palestinians whom it viewed as political opponents or civilians whom it was trying to prevent from fleeing an area that the IDF said needed to be evacuated. While the IDF said on Thursday that it is working on a fuller evaluation of the breakdown of civilians to combatants and estimates of those killed by Hamas, no Israeli official has provided a set estimate on that to date.

No date was given for when this breakdown will be publicized, suggesting that it will not be in the near future.

Estimates by international organizations and some media have said that as many as around 450 Palestinians have died of starvation, but the IDF on Thursday said these numbers are a mix of fake statistics or include persons who suffered from dangerous health conditions prior to the war.

IDF sources noted cases where they spoke to humanitarian aid officials who claimed that two specific children had died, but the military was able to quickly establish that they were actually still alive.

There were also multiple other cases in which the global media graphically documented children whose bodies appeared contorted and who eventually died, with the military later clarifying that they had serious pre-war health conditions that had already caused their distorted-looking appearance.

The IDF has not given a more detailed, comprehensive counter-claim regarding the list of persons the UN claims starved to death, but is expected to give significant information confidentially to the International Court of Justice on March 12.

More broadly, the IDF has said that UN aid officials in the field have admitted that their headquarters political bosses invented or exaggerated the food insecurity in Gaza in order to pressure Israel into ending the war earlier. IDF officials have also admitted that there was a food insecurity crisis in July-August 2025, but said they acted rapidly enough at the time in increasing the volume of food aid trucks to avoid a starvation crisis.

According to the IDF, throughout the war, 112,000 aid trucks were brought into Gaza, including 1,700,000 tons of food, as well as 1,800,000 tents and tarpaulin covers. During this time, 600,000 children received polio vaccinations.

Currently, 16 field hospitals are operating, and over the course of the war, 9,600 tons of medical items have been brought into Gaza.

During the same period, 5,000 international aid workers entered the Strip, while 42,000 Gazans exited to a third country to receive health treatment or travel using their dual citizenship status.

www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-884905

Well, it's more that I believe a wide variety of reputable aid agencies, the un, journalists from multiple countries, independent observers, and so on, over Netanyahu and the IDF.

Exactly. No one knows.

What kind of any old shite are you listening to?

Not sure how people can be so certain of what was happening in Gaza since Israel stopped any independent observers or journalists into Gaza.
what does everyone think of what’s happening in the West BAnk? There are independent observers there

https://x.com/i/status/2017124981327507776

The IDF have in fact NOT confirmed the figures, this has been misreported.

Yes that was referenced in the bbc article I posted earlier today.

In a food crisis, people die from disease first, not starvation. Especially children. Dehydration, chest infections, even just exposure due to the living conditions. Malnutrition means that normal childhood illnesses become life threatening.

And with malnutrition still being reported, and those basics of life, like the water and sanitation systems being destroyed, it’s likely children and other vulnerable people are dying and will continue to die. From disease primarily.

Not to mention that the malnutrition leaves a mark on these children’s health forever.

So “no healthy people died from starvation ” is quite a meaningless thing to say in this context. Even in a full blown famine disease is the biggest killer but it is ultimately caused by the lack of food.

Yes, it's insane to start a war, particularly in such a deliberately sadistic way, and then "fight" it with invisible combatants that can't be differentiated from civilians, and site weapons under sensitive civilian targets. Has there ever been a "war" like it?

The horror of Hamas does not justify the horror inflicted on innocent Palestinians. That is why the law of armed conflict was established to protect civilians no matter who or how horrific their leaders are.

Absolutely agree. Just like the horror of what Palestinians went through under Israeli Occupation for decades does not justify Oct 7th the events of that horrific day does not justify the slaughter of 70,000.

And yet people still go on about the occupation don't they, and some link it in a way that suggests 7/10 was understandable because of it or justified in some way.

There is so much bitterness on both sides. I hope that once the Hamas militants are somehow removed from Gaza both sides can finally start to move on and find a way to co-exist without hatred. That would be the start of the possibility of a 2 state solution.

Yes, but the law of armed conflict assumes that combatants will protect their own civilians, not expose them to as much risk as possible. It also assumes that they will be visible and uniformed.

The occupation is ongoing.

It never stopped.

It wasn't a rhetorical question by the way, earlier: Given the way Hamas operates, has anyone ever known a "war" like this? I can't think of any historical equivalents...?

So citizens that are put in danger by their terrorist government are fair game .

Interesting viewpoint.

What would you prefer Israel to have done, just forget about 7/10?

It's hard to apply the usual rules when Hamas turned them all upside down.

Irish War of Independence.

Not what I said but anyway.

Do you think citizens (especially women and children) are legitimate targets due to their terrorist government.

If the USA dropped airstrikes on Iran which murdered members of the civilian population due to the actions of its government would that be ok?

Oh gosh now I see why many of the anti-Israelis on MN are Irish!

I'm about to go out, so cheated and asked Copilot to answer this one 🫢 but would add: did the Irish deliberately put their own citizens in the firing line? No, they did not, because 7/10 was not a resistance fight against colonial oppression. It was an act of radical Islamist terrorism, which has completely different goals.

They share some surface parallels—both involve struggles against perceived colonial control—but the Gaza war and the Irish War of Independence differ profoundly in causes, actors, scale, and historical context. The comparisons often arise for political symbolism rather than because the conflicts are structurally similar. UCL Pi Media The Jerusalem Post
Why people compare them
Several historical and political threads encourage the analogy:

• Shared anti‑colonial framing: Irish nationalists have long viewed the Palestinian struggle as parallel to their own fight for self‑determination. Murals in Belfast often pair Irish and Palestinian symbols, and the IRA historically expressed solidarity with the PLO. The Jerusalem Post
• British imperial legacy: Britain played a central role in both regions. For example, Churchill deployed the Black and Tans—infamous for brutality in Ireland—to Palestine in 1921. This historical overlap fuels the sense of a shared colonial past. UCL Pi Media
• Modern political identification: Irish public opinion and government policy have tended to be sympathetic to Palestinian statehood, reinforcing the narrative of parallel struggles. The Jerusalem Post

These connections explain why the comparison is emotionally and politically powerful, especially in Ireland and Northern Ireland. Key differences between the conflicts

1. Nature of the conflict

• Irish War of Independence (1919–1921):
• Primarily a guerrilla war between the IRA and British forces.
• Aimed at ending British rule and establishing an Irish state.
• Mostly fought between two identifiable military/political actors.
• Gaza war (various escalations, including 2023–2024):
• Involves a state (Israel) and a non‑state armed group (Hamas), with civilians trapped in a densely populated enclave.
• Embedded in a much longer, multi‑layered national, territorial, and refugee crisis dating back to 1948 and earlier.
• Regional and global geopolitical stakes are far larger.

1. Demographics and displacement

• Ireland’s conflict did not involve mass population displacement on the scale seen in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, where refugee status and statelessness are central issues.

1. Territorial structure

• Ireland was a single territory under British rule; the dispute was over sovereignty.
• Israel–Palestine involves partition, occupation, settlements, blockades, and competing national movements claiming the same land.

1. Religious and ethnic dimensions

• Religion in Ireland was a marker of political identity but not the root cause.
• In Israel–Palestine, national identity, ethnicity, and religion are deeply intertwined with territorial claims.

1. International involvement

• The Irish conflict was largely bilateral (Ireland–Britain).
• The Gaza conflict is shaped by regional powers, global diplomacy, and decades of UN resolutions.

Where the analogy does help—and where it misleads Helpful:

• Understanding how colonial legacies shape modern conflicts.
• Seeing how national liberation movements form alliances and shared narratives.
• Recognising why Irish political actors often empathise with Palestinians.

Misleading:

• Suggesting the conflicts are structurally the same.
• Oversimplifying the Israeli–Palestinian conflict’s demographic, territorial, and geopolitical complexity.
• Ignoring the very different military, humanitarian, and regional dynamics.

Bottom line The comparison is symbolically powerful but historically imprecise. It reflects solidarity and shared narratives of resistance rather than a true equivalence of causes, conditions, or outcomes. The Irish War of Independence was a relatively short, focused anti‑colonial struggle; the Gaza conflict is part of a far broader, decades‑long national and regional crisis.

Yes, but the law of armed conflict assumes that combatants will protect their own civilians
Nope it is one of the very reasons the law was established to protect civilians in situations when their leaders were tyrants with no care for their own citizens to ensure they're protected. The rules apply to all sides, regardless of who started the conflict.
I'm not sure what your point is though? Because Hamas don't protect their citizens they're fair game?

@Beachtastic
Ah stop if you have to Chat GPT it it shows you don't understand at all.
(I didn't even read your inaccurate word salad because on first glance it's totally irrelevant to the point you were making)

But they did , people hid combatants in kitchens my granny had stories of them leaving the doors open to let them run through then locking them for the Black and Tans. Sheds and outhouses were used to hide men. So yes they were embedded in the population.

And we are not anti Israel we are anti illegal Occupation.

Gaza wasn't occupied for 20 years. The "occupation" was Israel protecting its borders for very good reason - look what happened when the "heroic freedom fighters" managed to get across.

Blatant lie and misinformation.

Which part? The withdrawal of all settlers from Gaza? The 2023 atrocity? Hamas' stated intent of wiping out the Jews?

No the "Gaza wasn't occupied for 20 years"part.
Interesting you know more that the UN , ICC and ICJ ..