Israel’s Netanyahu says Hamas fighters comprise almost half Gaza’s death toll
- Palestinian death toll in the war is at least 35,173, according to Gaza’s health authority
- Israeli prime minister on Sunday said dead Hamas combatants numbered around 14,000
Israel’s prime minister said that almost half of those killed in the Gaza war are Hamas fighters, playing down a civilian toll that has sparked global outrage.
Benjamin Netanyahu maintained the overall toll is lower than that given by authorities in the Palestinian territory.
According to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza on Tuesday, at least 35,173 Palestinians have been killed in the territory during more than seven months of war between Israel and Palestinian militants.
But Netanyahu suggested in an interview on the “Call Me Back” podcast conducted on Sunday that the death toll in Gaza was actually around 30,000 and that Hamas fighters accounted for nearly half of that toll.
Gazan authorities do not provide an overview of the number of Palestinian militants killed, but have repeatedly said that a large majority of those killed in the war have been women and children.