Does Israel Publish a Proportionality Assessment for Gaza Strikes?
Israel’s bodies publish investigation counts, thresholds and a judicial proportionality test. No Israeli body publishes a strike-level assessment.
74 criminal investigations into alleged misconduct in Gaza had been opened by the Military Advocate General’s Corps as at 3 August 2024, the Corps’ own count of its own processes, produced under a stated reasonable-suspicion standard. No Israeli body publishes a proportionality determination on any individual strike in Gaza. What Israel’s bodies do publish is a judicial proportionality test stated in 2004, an operational tally the Israel Defense Forces attributes to itself, referral and investigation counts with the threshold that produced them, and a State Comptroller audit of the machinery that examines conduct in combat.
| Figure | What it counts | Who published it | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| 74 | Criminal investigations opened into alleged misconduct in Gaza, the Corps’ own count, under a reasonable-suspicion standard | IDF Military Advocate General’s Corps | As at 3 August 2024 |
| Over 1,000 | Incidents referred for factual assessment to the General Staff’s Fact-Finding and Assessment Mechanism, the Corps’ own count, a floor | IDF Military Advocate General’s Corps | As at 3 August 2024 |
| Over 13,000 | People the IDF describes as terrorists it says it has eliminated in Gaza, the IDF’s own count on its own classification, a floor | Israel Defense Forces | Since the start of the war, stated 29 February 2024 |
| 3 | Limbs of the proportionality test applied to a military measure | Israeli Supreme Court, HCJ 2056/04 | Judgment of 30 June 2004 |
| 3 years and 5 months | Interval from the second Turkel report to government approval of the recommendations implementing it | State Comptroller of Israel | February 2013 to 3 July 2016 |
| 2,125 | Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip during Operation Protective Edge, on figures published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a party’s own count | State Comptroller of Israel, relaying the Ministry of Foreign Affairs | 2014 |
Turkel reported in 2013, the government approved implementation in July 2016
The State Comptroller records that the Turkel Commission delivered the first part of its report in January 2011 and the second, on Israel’s examination and investigation mechanisms, in February 2013. The Ciechanover team delivered its implementing recommendations to the Prime Minister on 20 September 2015, about a year after the October 2014 date set for them, and the government approved them on 3 July 2016 in decision B/125 of the Ministerial Committee for National Security Affairs, about three years and five months after Turkel reported. The same audit records that a 2012 to 2013 audit of the civilian component in combat was completed in draft, circulated 12 February 2014 and updated in May 2014, and was not published because Operation Protective Edge intervened. These are the findings of Israel’s state audit institution, reporting to the Knesset on Israeli bodies, and the audit sits alongside the same report’s findings on training in the laws of war.
Beit Sourik applied a three-part proportionality test to military measures
HCJ 2056/04 concerns the route of the West Bank separation barrier, not operations in Gaza, and it states the test Israel’s own court applies to a military measure rather than applying that test to Gaza. The Israeli Supreme Court held on 30 June 2004 that the military commander had authority to build the obstacle for security reasons, rejected the claim that the route served a political rather than a security purpose, and voided several seizure orders because the route was disproportionate. The figures below are the Court’s own statements in the judgment, and the ruling on the barrier route carries them in full.
| Figure | What the Court stated it counts |
|---|---|
| 3 limbs | Rational connection, least injurious means, and injury in proper proportion to the gain |
| About 40 kilometres | Length of the segment covered by the challenged seizure orders |
| 35,000 | Local inhabitants whose lives the Court found the route injures |
| 4,000 dunams | Local inhabitants’ land taken up by the route of the fence itself |
| 1,500 dunams | Cultivated land left on the far side of the fence |
Source: Israeli Supreme Court, HCJ 2056/04 Beit Sourik Village Council v. Government of Israel, judgment of 30 June 2004.
The IDF counts over 13,000 it describes as terrorists killed
The Israel Defense Forces stated at a press briefing on 29 February 2024 that it had eliminated over 13,000 people it describes as terrorists in Gaza since the beginning of the war. That is the IDF’s own count, on the IDF’s own classification of who is counted, stated at a single date, and “over 13,000” is a floor rather than an exact total. The briefing gives a separate count for a separate territory, which counts a different action.
| Figure | What the IDF states it counts | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Over 13,000 | People it describes as terrorists eliminated in Gaza | Since the start of the war, stated 29 February 2024 |
| About 3,400 | People it describes as terrorists apprehended by IDF forces together with the ISA in Judea and Samaria | During the war, stated 29 February 2024 |
| 1,500 | Of those apprehended, people it describes as Hamas terrorists | During the war, stated 29 February 2024 |
Source: Israel Defense Forces, press briefing by the IDF Spokesperson, 29 February 2024. Each figure is the IDF’s own reported count.
The IDF publishes no civilian casualty count of its own
The Israel Defense Forces publishes no count of civilians killed in Gaza in the material used here. The 2,125 Palestinians killed during Operation Protective Edge appears in the State Comptroller’s March 2018 report, which attributes it to figures published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the wounded and housing figures in the same report are attributed by the report to Palestinian bodies and international organisations. The IDF also states measures it says it takes before a strike, and publishes no number for any of them:
- Warnings to civilians by telephone call, text message and leaflet
- Roof knocking, a loud non-lethal munition, before striking a building
- Strikes aborted when civilians are present
- A numbered evacuation-area map published so residents could follow instructions by area
Source: Israel Defense Forces, stated precautions in Gaza and the human-shields position, the IDF’s own account of its own conduct, carrying no count of warnings issued, roof-knocks performed or strikes aborted.
No Israeli body publishes a proportionality assessment of any strike
The Military Advocate General’s Corps publishes counts of what its own machinery has done, and no assessment of whether any particular attack was proportionate. The Corps states that in armed conflict, death or injury to a civilian or harm to civilian objects, while tragic and regrettable, in most cases do not by themselves indicate a reasonable suspicion of criminal conduct, as they can be explained as reasonable aftermath of lawful operational activity, and its counts are a function of that threshold. The breakdown of the 74 by category sits in the record on how the Corps examines misconduct.
| Item | What the Corps publishes |
|---|---|
| Criminal investigations opened | 74, as at 3 August 2024, its own count |
| Incidents referred for factual assessment | Over 1,000, with hundreds still under assessment at the time of writing |
| Threshold applied | A reasonable-suspicion standard, stated in the publication |
| Findings, indictments and convictions | No count in that publication |
| Proportionality determination on an individual attack | None in that publication |
Source: IDF Military Advocate General’s Corps, Addressing Alleged Misconduct in the Context of the War in Gaza, published 24 February 2024, updated 3 August 2024. The counts are the party’s own counts of its own processes.
Which figures here may not be added together?
The 74 investigations and the over 1,000 referrals count stages of one process and are not two populations to be summed. The over 13,000 is a count of people the IDF describes as terrorists, on the IDF’s own classification, and no total of any kind may be derived by subtracting it from a figure published by another body. The 2,125 belongs to Operation Protective Edge in 2014 and to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, not to the current war and not to the State Comptroller. Both the 13,000 and the over 1,000 are floors and are never restated as exact numbers.
Questions readers ask
Does Israel publish a proportionality assessment of any strike in Gaza?
The Military Advocate General’s Corps publishes investigation and referral counts, and its publication carries no proportionality determination on an individual attack.
How many criminal investigations has the Corps opened?
The Military Advocate General’s Corps opened 74 criminal investigations into alleged misconduct in Gaza as at 3 August 2024, on its own count.
What threshold produces that count?
The Corps states that civilian death or injury in armed conflict does not by itself indicate a reasonable suspicion of criminal conduct, and the 74 rests on that standard.
Are the 74 findings or convictions?
The Corps counts investigations opened, and its publication records no findings, indictment or conviction count.
What proportionality test do Israel’s courts apply?
The Israeli Supreme Court held on 30 June 2004 that a military measure must show a rational connection to its objective, use the least injurious means, and stand in proper proportion between injury and gain.
Did that judgment concern Gaza?
HCJ 2056/04 concerns the route of the West Bank separation barrier, and the Israeli Supreme Court decided it on 30 June 2004.
How many people does the IDF say it has killed in Gaza?
The Israel Defense Forces stated on 29 February 2024 that it had eliminated over 13,000 people it describes as terrorists, its own count and a floor.
Does the IDF publish a civilian casualty count for Gaza?
The Israel Defense Forces publishes no civilian casualty count in the material used here, and its 29 February 2024 briefing counts only those it describes as terrorists.
Where does the 2,125 figure come from?
The State Comptroller reported 2,125 Palestinians killed during Operation Protective Edge in 2014, on figures published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Does the IDF publish how many warnings it issued?
The Israel Defense Forces states that it warns civilians by telephone, text message and leaflet and performs roof knocking, and publishes no count of those actions.
How long did the examination machinery take to stand up?
The State Comptroller recorded about three years and five months between the second Turkel report of February 2013 and the government’s approval of the implementing recommendations on 3 July 2016.
Was any earlier audit of conduct in combat published?
The State Comptroller records that a 2012 to 2013 audit of the civilian component in combat was completed in draft in 2014 and was not published because Operation Protective Edge intervened.
Sources
- Israel Defense Forces, 2024. Press Briefing by IDF Spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, February 29th, 2024. idf.il. Official or primary record.
- Israel Defense Forces. Stated precautions in Gaza and the human-shields position. idf.il. Official or primary record.
- Israel Defense Forces, Military Advocate General’s Corps, 2024. Addressing Alleged Misconduct in the Context of the War in Gaza. Published 24 February 2024, updated 3 August 2024. idf.il. Official or primary record.
- Israeli Supreme Court, 2004. HCJ 2056/04 Beit Sourik Village Council v. Government of Israel. Judgment of 30 June 2004. Official or primary record.
- State Comptroller of Israel, 2018. Operation Protective Edge: IDF Activity in Aspects of International Law, and the Examination and Control Mechanisms of the Civilian and Military Echelons. Special report, March 2018. mevaker.gov.il. Official or primary record.
