The Israeli military said on Wednesday that its forces had targeted about 100,000 sites on multiple fronts during the three years following 7 October 2023, in statements reviewing its operations and the changes made to its military structure.
Targeting figures and distribution of sites
The statements did not specify the nature of the sites included in the tally, the mechanism used to identify them, the types of weapons used to target them or the scale of damage caused by the strikes. In the Gaza Strip, Israeli strikes over the past three years have killed 74,243 Palestinians and injured 175,232 others, according to the figures cited in the article. The numbers continue to rise daily as military operations continue.
Damage in Gaza and Palestinian losses
In its latest reports, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, citing the latest assessment prepared by the United Nations Satellite Centre, said damaged buildings in the Gaza Strip as of 16 June represented about 82% of all buildings in the territory.
The assessment came as part of an effort to monitor the scale of damage to the urban infrastructure during the war, which the bureau described as an Israeli war of genocide. In the West Bank, attacks by Israeli forces and settlers killed 1,210 Palestinians and injured 13,350 people, in addition to the arrest of 24,600 people, according to the figures cited.
Losses in the West Bank, Lebanon and Yemen
The operations included raids, incursions and arrests in various areas of the West Bank during the same period. In Lebanon, Israeli forces killed 8,953 people and injured 30,649 others since 8 October 2023. Israeli air strikes also caused extensive destruction in southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs.
In Yemen, Yemeni estimates said strikes on cities controlled by the Houthis had killed more than 50 civilians, with no final tally covering casualties from all the strikes. The Israeli statements included the arrest or detention of about 45,000 people, whom the military described as “wanted for questioning”.
It said they included “arms dealers and weapons holders, wanted individuals who planned imminent attacks, terrorist operatives, people who threw stones and Molotov cocktails, and accomplices in terrorist activities”. The military did not break down the number of detainees by city or country.
Arrests and money seized during the operations
Thousands of people were arrested in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, while Israeli forces also carried out arrests and detentions in Lebanon and Syria, alongside repeated incursions into areas inside both countries and operations against civilians. Regarding money seized by its forces during the operations, the Israeli military said it had “confiscated more than 46 million shekels (about 15 million US dollars) during operations in the region”, claiming it was “money allocated for terrorist activities”.
In 2024, the military had announced the “confiscation of more than 220 million shekels (about 60 million US dollars) from Gaza” under the pretext of “fighting terrorism”. Those operations included the seizure of 200 million shekels, or about 54.3 million US dollars, from a branch of the Bank of Palestine in the al-Rimal neighbourhood.
In January 2024, the Israeli military acknowledged seizing money worth 15 million shekels, or about 4.9 million US dollars, from Palestinian homes in the Gaza Strip during raids and incursions. The forces also confiscated money from currency exchange shops in the West Bank.
Regarding attacks on Israel, the military said multiple fronts had launched tens of thousands of rockets and drones during the years of war. It estimated that about 10,200 projectiles had been launched from the Gaza Strip, compared with about 20,000 from Lebanon, around 1,200 from Iran, about 90 from Yemen and around 50 from Syria.
The Israeli military reported that 970 soldiers had been killed during various operations over the past three years, and said that 70% of injured soldiers had returned to service. Israeli media, however, report that the actual number of military deaths may be higher, amid restrictions imposed by the military on publishing some of its losses on security grounds.
On Tuesday, the rehabilitation division of Israel’s Defence Ministry announced that it had received about 30,000 injured male and female members of the security forces since 7 October 2023. This figure differs in scope from the military death toll presented in the statements, as it includes injured men and women serving in the security services.
The military also revealed that the size of the reserve forces had risen by approximately 36%, describing the increase as “unprecedented”. This coincided with the creation of new formations and units, including the Hashomer Brigade and the David Brigades, as part of the establishment of the Gilead Division and the 38th Division.
It added that it had established new armoured and intelligence-gathering units, alongside community defence systems and air-defence and tactical air-defence systems. The changes also included police and detention units, as well as various formations under the Home Front Command, as part of restructuring and expanding the forces during the three years of war.
