The former chief of staff of the Israeli military, Herzi Halevi, has acknowledged that the number of people killed and wounded in the Gaza war has surpassed 200,000, and asserted that legal advice “never once” constrained military operations during his tenure.
Halevi stepped down in March after leading the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) through the first 17 months of the war, which enters its second year in October.
In a meeting with residents in southern Israel on Tuesday evening, the retired general said that “more than 10% of Gaza’s population of 2.2 million people have been killed or injured, which is more than 200,000 people,” Britain’s Guardian newspaper reported.
The estimate is significant as it is close to the figures currently being published by the health ministry in Gaza, which Israeli officials have frequently dismissed as “Hamas propaganda,” despite international humanitarian agencies considering the data reliable.
According to the latest official figures from Gaza, the number of people killed since the war began on 7 October 2023, has reached 64,718, with 163,859 injured. Thousands more are believed to be buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings.
Leaked Israeli intelligence data on casualties up to last May suggested that more than 83% of the dead were civilians.
“This is not a nice war. We took off the gloves from the first minute. Unfortunately, we didn’t do it sooner,” Halevi said, suggesting Israel should have adopted a tougher approach to Gaza before the 7 October attack.
The former commander’s remarks were made during a meeting with residents of the Ein HaBesor moshav, and a recording of his address was published on the website of the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.
‘Legal advice never constrained me’
Halevi added that “no one is behaving nicely” but claimed the IDF operates within the “constraints of international humanitarian law” – a position repeatedly stated by Israeli officials, who maintain that military legal advisers are involved in operational decisions.
However, Halevi denied that legal consultations had ever influenced his decisions or those of his direct commanders in Gaza or any other operational theatre.
“No one has ever constrained me, not once. Not the military advocate general Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, who by the way, has no authority to constrain me,” he said.
In another quote reported by Yedioth Ahronoth, which did not appear in the recording, Halevi seemed to suggest that the primary role of the army’s legal advisers was to prepare the legal case before the international community to justify military operations.
“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 said.
The IDF did not respond to requests for comment on Halevi’s statements regarding the casualty figures and the role of legal advisers by Friday evening, according to the Guardian.
Legal advice ‘ignored’
Israeli human rights lawyer Michael Sfard said Halevi’s remarks “confirm that the role of legal advisers is merely a formality.”
“The generals see them as ordinary advisers whose opinion can be taken or ignored, not as legal experts whose positions define the boundary between what is permissible and what is forbidden,” he added.
Separately, the Haaretz newspaper reported on Wednesday that Halevi’s successor as chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, had also ignored legal advice from Tomer-Yerushalmi. According to the report, she had recommended delaying evacuation orders for about one million residents of Gaza City before the ground offensive until adequate facilities were available in the south of the Strip to accommodate them.
Many of the Palestinians killed in strikes on Friday were among those who were unable to move south or refused to leave their homes and shelters to face a greater risk in areas that offered them no shelter or protection from Israeli bombardment.
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