Major-General Yoav Galant, head of IDF Southern Command, announced this week that he is proud of the terrorist to civilian death ratio in Gaza. The ratio proves that the IDF is a moral army that works to avoid civilian casualties, with success unmatched elsewhere in the world, he said.
Israeli investigators have found that of the roughly 1,300 residents of Gaza killed in the Cast Lead operation, more than 600 were terrorists, and 309 were civilians. Approximately 100 have not been identified at all, and 320 are adult men whose names are known but whose affiliation remains unclear.
"I'm overcome by a feeling of pride because we have a moral army that adheres to international law,” Galant said at a ceremony honoring Southern Command troops. “This ratio of less than one-quarter of the individuals [killed] uninvolved in fighting is an achievement unmatched in the history of this kind of combat, not only in Israel but in the entire world.”
During Cast Lead, troops were fighting in an urban environment, against an enemy that did not wear uniforms and fought from civilian homes, schools and hospitals. “Combat soldiers were faced with extremely difficult moral dilemmas,” Galant said.
Earlier in the week, Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi spoke out in support of troops as well, calling the IDF “the most moral army in the world.”
Hamas Claims Proven False
Israel has faced harsh criticism from Arab and Muslim nations, the United Nations and the international media over the deaths of civilians in Gaza. However, Israeli investigations have since concluded that many initial reports of civilian casualties were false.
One of the most famous cases later proven false was the “UN school massacre,” where IDF troops allegedly killed dozens at a UN school used to house civilian refugees. However, eyewitnesses later confirmed that the school building was not hit, and that only 12 people were killed in the incident, nine of them armed terrorists.
The IDF also found that Hamas's list of alleged civilian casualties was dubious at best: among the hundreds of names that the group claimed belonged to slain children were those of senior Hamas terrorists, including well-known figures such as armed forces commander Taufik Jabari and senior Hamas officer Mohammed Shakshak.