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How many civilians and soldiers were killed in Israel since October 7, 2023, by month?
Executive summary
Available sources do not provide a single, month-by-month table of Israeli civilian and soldier deaths since 7 October 2023, but several official and secondary tallies give totals and partial breakdowns useful for reconstruction: early Israeli counts of the October 7 attack listed about 1,139–1,200 dead on that day including roughly 695 civilians and ~373 security forces [1] [2], and IDF reporting later gave cumulative soldier fatalities of roughly 891–891–? through 2023–24 with 363 soldiers killed in 2024 alone [3]. Major data repositories such as OCHA and the Watson Institute notes collect and verify incident data month-by-month, but the specific monthly civilian/soldier split for all months is not published in the provided sources [4] [5].
1. Early shock: October 7’s concentrated toll
Reporting and compiled summaries show the immediate October 7 assault produced the largest single-day Israeli toll: social-security–based and other counts cited roughly 1,139 total deaths on and immediately after October 7, of which ~695 were identified as Israeli civilians and ~373 as security forces [1] [2]. Independent coverage and media outlets also cited figures around 1,200 Israeli dead in the immediate aftermath, a range that reflects revisions and differing inclusion criteria [6] [7].
2. Official soldier totals and how they were reported over time
The IDF and later analysts published soldier-specific aggregates covering the entire campaign period rather than clean monthly series. One compilation of IDF data cited 891 servicemembers killed since October 7, 2023, and noted 363 IDF soldiers were killed in 2024 alone — implying hundreds of soldier deaths occurred after the initial October shock [3]. Other sources report variations and periodic revisions in official counts, reflecting changing classifications and public-release rules [3] [8].
3. Why month-by-month civilian vs. soldier counts are hard to extract
Humanitarian and UN data platforms like OCHA emphasize incident verification before listing fatalities and note that casualties “will only be added… once these incidents have been independently verified,” meaning consolidated monthly public breakdowns — especially differentiating civilians and soldiers inside Israel proper — are not always available in near-real time [4]. Academic and policy analyses (e.g., Watson/Brown Costs of War) aggregate direct and indirect deaths and sometimes separate soldier tallies for specific phases (e.g., the ground operation), but do not supply a comprehensive, continuous monthly civilian/soldier matrix in the provided files [5] [9].
4. Partial monthly signals from the ground offensive and later months
Some sources provide phase-based or annualized snapshots that hint at monthly flows: one analysis said 435 individuals were killed on October 7 and in the two weeks before Israel’s ground operation began on October 27, and that 390 soldiers were killed since the ground maneuver began (61 of them in late 2023), indicating heavy soldier losses concentrated during specific operations rather than uniformly each month [3]. These phase-anchored figures can be used to approximate periods of higher soldier fatalities but do not substitute for a verified month-by-month civilian/soldier table [3].
5. Disagreements, revisions and methodological caveats
Sources show disagreement about counts and classification. Wikipedia-based compilations and some media cite differing totals (e.g., initial Israeli reports of ~1,400 later revised to ~1,200) and mix civilians, soldiers, police and foreign nationals depending on method [2] [8]. Researchers and commentators also dispute extrapolations about Gaza fatalities and classification of combatant vs. civilian status, which further complicates reciprocal comparisons and month-by-month attribution [2] [10].
6. What a rigorous month-by-month breakdown would require
To produce the specific monthly civilian-and-soldier death series you ask for would require cross-referencing: (a) IDF daily/name-release lists for soldiers, (b) Israeli civilian casualty lists by date from official Israeli registries or OCHA/OHCHR incident-verification feeds, and (c) transparent inclusion rules for police, Shin Bet and foreign nationals. The sources provided include soldier aggregates and event-based tallies but do not supply the complete dated, disaggregated dataset necessary to compile the month-by-month series you requested [3] [4] [2].
7. Practical next steps I can take for you
I can (a) extract and align all dated IDF name-release items and OCHA incident entries available in source material you supply or allow me to fetch, then build a month-by-month civilian vs. soldier table; or (b) produce an approximate timeline using the phase-based numbers in the current sources (with clear caveats about gaps and revisions) if that is acceptable. Available sources do not contain a complete month-by-month civilian/soldier breakdown as requested [4] [3]. Which option do you prefer?