Today Israel marked six months since Hamas attacked the nation on October 7, resulting in the onset of the current war in Gaza, officially known in Israel as the "Iron Swords War."
Deaths
Since October 7, 1,488 Israelis have been killed as a result of the war and related terror attacks. Of those killed, 817 were civilians, 604 were members of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), 62 were police officers, and five were members of the Israel Security Agency, also known as the Shin Bet.
Of the 604 slain IDF soldiers, 260 were killed after the IDF began conducting ground operations within the Gaza Strip on October 27. Forty-one of the soldiers were killed as a result of friendly-fire accidents.
Of the 817 civilians who were killed, five were children less than six years old. Another five were between the ages of 6 and 10, and 29 were between the ages of 11 and 17. In total, 39 children below the age of 18 were killed.
Injuries
Israel’s National Insurance Institute has thus far recognized 65,032 civilians as having been injured, physically or mentally, by terror attacks.
Since the onset of the war, 3,193 IDF soldiers have been injured, including 496 serious injuries, 842 moderate injuries and 1,845 light injuries.
Hostages
On October 7, 257 people were kidnapped from Israel by Hamas and other terrorist organizations. Of those, 133 are still being held in the Gaza Strip.
The remaining 124 have returned to Israel, four having been released by Hamas on its own initiative, three after being rescued by the IDF, and 81 as part of a deal with Hamas in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.
The deal also included the release of 26 kidnapped foreign nationals from Thailand and the Philippines. Additionally, the bodies of 14 deceased hostages have been returned to Israel.
Evacuees
As of November, some 125,000 evacuees from Israel’s border with Gaza in the south and its border with Lebanon in the north were being housed in hotels, according to the Ministry of Tourism. Since then, some residents have returned to communities along the border with Gaza, but residents of northern border communities are still unable to return.
