IDF believes 70,000 Gazans killed in war, as claimed by Hamas; civilian-combatant ratio unclear

The Israel Defense Forces believes that the Hamas-run health ministry's death toll from the war in the Gaza Strip has been largely accurate, a senior Israeli military official acknowledged on Thursday.
Briefing reporters on condition of anonymity, the official said that the IDF believes the Gaza death count from the two-plus-year war, sparked by Hamas's October 7 onslaught, is around 70,000. The Gaza health ministry's current death toll is 71,667, including over 450 killed since the October 2025 ceasefire.