Ex-IDF chief reveals Gaza casualties crossed the 200,000 mark, confirms no legal advice was sought during ops

Former Chief of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), Herzi Halevi, confirmed that more than 200,000 Palestinians have been killed or injured in the war in Gaza, rejecting the narratives propagated by Israel. The retired general told a community meeting in southern Israel earlier this week that “not once” in the course of the conflict were military operations inhibited by legal advice.

Halevi stepped down as chief of staff in March after leading the IDF for 17 months of the war, which is approaching its second anniversary. In the community meeting, the retired general said that more than 10 per cent of Gaza’s 2.2 million population had been killed or injured – “more than 200,000 people”.

What makes Halevi’s estimate notable is the fact that it is close to the current figure provided by Gaza’s health ministry, which Israeli officials have frequently dismissed as Hamas propaganda. The same ministry figures have also been deemed reliable by international humanitarian agencies.

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According to the ministry, the current official death toll in Gaza is 64,718, with 163,859 Palestinians wounded since the start of the war on October 7, 2023. Thousands more are feared dead, with their bodies buried in the rubble. On Friday itself, at least 40 people were reported killed in Israeli strikes, mostly around Gaza City.

“This isn’t a gentle war. We took the gloves off from the first minute. Sadly, not earlier,” Halevi said, suggesting Israel should have taken a tougher line in Gaza before the October 7 attack. The former commander was talking to the residents of Ein HaBesor moshav (agricultural cooperative), which succeeded in repelling the Hamas attackers two years ago. A recording of his remarks was later published by Ynet News. 

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‘No one is working gently’: Halevi

While speaking to the gathering, the retired Israeli official made it clear that the IDF operated within the constraints of international humanitarian law. However, he insisted that “No one is working gently”.

That claim has been repeated throughout the war by Israeli officials, who have said that military lawyers are involved in operational decisions. Contrary to this, Halevi denied that legal advice had ever affected his or his immediate subordinates’ military decisions in Gaza or across the Middle East.

“Not once has anyone restricted me. Not once. Not the military AG [advocate general Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi] who, by the way, doesn’t have the authority to restrict me,” he said. According to Ynet, Halevi also appeared to suggest that the main importance of Israel’s military lawyers was to convince the outside world of the legality of the IDF’s actions.

“There are legal advisers who say: We will know how to defend this legally in the world, and this is very important for the state of Israel,” he is quoted as saying. Halevi’s remarks on the matter garnered attention from several human rights activists.

Michael Sfard, an Israeli human rights lawyer, said Halevi’s remarks “confirm that the legal advisers serve as rubber stamps”. “The generals see them as ‘regular’ advisers whose advice one can adopt or dismiss, not as professional lawyers whose legal positions present the boundaries of what is permissible and what is prohibited,” Sfard said.

The remarks from the former IDF chief also came just days after Haaretz reported that Halevi’s successor as IDF chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, had ignored Tomer-Yerushalmi’s legal advice. As per the report, the advocate general had reportedly said that the displacement orders to an estimated 1 million Gaza City residents to leave before an IDF offensive should be postponed until there were facilities in southern Gaza to receive them.