TRUE OR FALSE. Is the Israeli offensive particularly deadly for civilians?

As part of the Israeli offensive in Gaza, senior Israeli military officials put forward a ratio of two civilians killed for every one Hamas fighter killed. A figure difficult to verify, but which the spokesperson for the Israeli government, Eilon Levi, presents as positive. “I have not seen authoritative statistics on the ratio of civilians to combatants killed in the wars against the Islamic State, or in Afghanistan or Iraq.”, he justifies. Eilon Levi therefore compares the war against Hamas to three conflicts led by Western powers. Wars which can be compared, because they were waged against unconventional armies, practicing guerrilla warfare.

This is the case of the war in Afghanistan, which pitted the United States and several Western countries against the Taliban regime from 2001 to 2021, and the war in Iraq, which pitted a coalition led by the United States against each other. to insurgent groups and members of Al-Qaeda, between 2003 and 2011. Finally, this is also the case for the military interventions carried out by the international coalition against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria from 2014 to 2021.

The Israeli offensive is particularly deadly for civilians

Have these conflicts been more deadly for civilians? According to reports from independent NGOs, Western armies have directly killed more than 46,000 civilians in Afghanistan, 24,000 in Iraq, and between 8,000 and 13,000 in bombings against the Islamic State. In these three conflicts taken as an example by the spokesperson for the Israeli government, the number of combatants killed is approximately similar to the number of civilians killed, i.e. a ratio of approximately one civilian killed for one combatant killed. This is half as much as currently for the conflict in Gaza.

Contrary to what Israeli officials claim, it therefore appears that the Israeli offensive is particularly deadly for civilians, even compared to recent wars led by Western forces.