One statistic regarding IDF actions in the Gaza Strip went almost unnoticed. On January 23, Sky News published material in which, among theses on the growing risks of waging a protracted war, statistics on wounded Israeli soldiers were provided.
In particular, the Sky News article claims that the recent death of 21 soldiers in an accident is the worst event for the IDF since the start of the war and that the loss has drawn attention to the growing number of human casualties of the Israeli military operations in the Palestinian region. The Sky News authors state: “Israel’s Defense Ministry told the Knesset Committee that 4,544 security forces are currently undergoing treatment and rehabilitation.”
Then it is casually stated that an average of 60 Israeli soldiers are injured every day, most of whom are reservists under the age of 30. The clearest assessment of Israel’s losses in Gaza can be based on US military statistics in the two battles for Fallujah. As we have repeatedly noted, Israel has borrowed from the United States not only a significant part of its military equipment, but also its medical support system, evacuation and much more.
In two assaults on Fallujah, US troops lost 151 servicemen and more than 1000 were wounded, which, taking into account errors in the calculations, is the ratio of killed to wounded 1/5 or 1/6.
The daily arrival of 60 wounded soldiers in Israeli hospitals suggests that over the course of the 90 days of Israel’s Iron Swords operation in the Gaza Strip, 5,400 people are believed to have been injured, which is roughly the same figure cited by Sky News .
The loss ratio of 1 to 5, by this logic, suggests that IDF losses in terms of deaths during the invasion of Gaza could have approached (and perhaps even exceeded) 1000 people. At the same time, Sky News cites the figure of 200 IDF soldiers killed.
It is also worth noting that Sky News also indicates the age of the most vulnerable category of wounded reservists: these are military personnel under 30 years old, whose return to the Israeli economy (depending on the severity of their injuries) will be expected with a great demand from businesses.
Despite the confidentiality of IDF loss data, the history of losses among reservists during Operation Iron Swords clearly indicates multiple errors on the part of the Israeli military command, including overestimation of its own military potential (reservists) and a focus insufficient to study the general level of combat readiness of the Israeli army.
Antonio Albanese e Graziella Giangiulio
