A report released on Sunday by the Israel Defense Force illustrates the far-reaching resources and operations the country has poured into its war with Hamas.
The IDF’s publicly available “War Against Hamas: Interim Data” includes a wide variety of data points, which Israel’s military seeks to highlight in its ongoing conflict with Hamas and skirmishing with Hezbollah.
The report generally includes data aggregated up through the second week of January 2024, the first four months of the ongoing war. The data selected and the numbers must be viewed through the prism of the sole source from which they come, but nonetheless reveal some interesting insights.
People
For context, Israel has a population of about 9.5 million people according to 2023 census estimates. In 2022, the IDF counted 169,500 active-duty personnel, making it the 28th largest military in the world in terms of full-time service members.
It had a cadre of 465,000 reserve personnel in 2022, bringing its total force to about 634,500 individuals. That equates to about 7% of the population in active or reserve military service. For comparison, America’s total active and reserve military force consists of about 1.74 million or roughly 0.5 % of the population.
In addition to the active force, the IDF says that approximately 295,000 reservists have reported for duty since the beginning of the war. In essence, the country has committed about 75% of its armed forces personnel to service in a slate of different roles – basically a full war footing.
The average number of days of reserve service is 61 according to the report. Approximately 45,000 reservists have returned to full reserve duty after having been given an exemption from active reserve service. The reservists remain overwhelmingly male at 81% of the reserve force which is a figure in line with other Western militaries.
However, a couple of other numbers jump out. The report’s numbers show that approximately 20% of Israel’s reservists are over 40 years of age. Some 40% of them are parents (115,000 men, 3,000 women). The proportions indicate the acceptance of mobilization that has long been a part of the fabric of Israeli society.
The conflict has obviously taken a toll on both sides. The IDF puts the number of service members killed in action at 588 as of January 14. Another 2,536 have been injured in total. Of these, 1,060 have been moderately to severely injured.
These numbers don’t include those evacuated as a result of non-operational incidents. The IDF adds that 36 service members have thus far been killed due to what it describes as accidents. Nineteen of these casualties were killed due to “friendly fire”.
The toll extends to non-visible trauma as well. The IDF reports that approximately 9,000 soldiers’ mental health has been affected during the war. Of these about 75% have returned to operational activity as of early January.
Those with physical and mental injuries have been treated by some 40,000 medical care providers in Israel. Around 615 doctors, nurses and other specialists have been placed in operational service with Israeli forces along with 3,100 medics.
In Gaza, many thousands of people have been killed and millions displaced. While there is no equivalent breakdown of Hamas and Palestinian civilian casualties or force structure details, the reliability of such statistics if provided by the Palestinian authorities would inevitably be in question due to the chaos within Gaza and the veracity of Hamas claims.
While arguments may be made about the reliability of the IDF’s report, it does attempt to estimate the cost of the fighting to Hamas and Hezbollah as of the second week of January.
The chief figure is the IDF’s contention that it has eliminated about 9,000 Hamas terrorists. On Israel’s northern border, the report asserts that around 170 Hamas terrorists have been killed by Israeli military actions.
In Gaza, the IDF claims to have taken out two Hamas brigade commanders, 19 Hamas battalion commanders and over 50 Hamas company commanders.
The report elaborated that thus far, “19 senior Hamas operatives ranking Battalion Commander have been eliminated in Gaza, of which 8 held tactical Battalion Commander positions, and 11 ranked battalion commander and held various administrative positions.”
Operations
Though Israel has said that it has moved to a “more targeted” stage of operations within the last few weeks, it has nonetheless maintained a high operational tempo in and around Gaza and elsewhere since the start of hostilities.
That tempo is reflected in the targets-struck metrics the IDF provided. According to the report, some 30,000 official targets have been struck in Gaza. While the report does not specify what constitutes a target, it’s logical to expect that they range from Hamas infrastructure (tunnels, missile launch locations, weapons caches) to terrorist fire-teams on the move, to leadership residences, individuals and more.
An additional 3,400 targets have been marked as “potential threats” and have presumably not been struck yet. These include targets determined prior to the War and since its commencement.
Near the Lebanon border 750 official targets have been struck according to the IDF which did not distinguish between Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon and other targets in the Golan Heights/Syrian border areas.
Strikes go both ways in most modern conflicts and the IDF totted-up the rocket fire that has been directed at Israel. As of January 9, the report maintains that approximately 9,000 rockets crossed into Israeli territory from Gaza. Some 2,000 have been fired into Israel from Lebanon another 30 have crossed into the country from Syrian launch sites.
Interestingly, the report does not record missiles fired at Israel from Yemen perhaps because they have been intercepted or fallen short before reaching Israeli territory. Nor is there specific reference to Hamas or Hezbollah missile activity.
Away from the immediate Gaza Strip area, the IDF’s Central Command – which includes operational units and brigades in the West Bank, Sharon, Gush Dan, Shephelah, Judea and Samaria areas of central Israel – has conducted over 3,200 operational activities.
Such operations have been aimed at keeping a lid on Hamas activities and influence in the West Bank and in the surrounding towns and countryside. The IDF cites over 40 brigade-scale operations underlining the resources it has put into the region. These and other operations have apprehended about 2,650 wanted individuals in Judea and Samaria and the Valley Brigade area “of which approximately 1,300 are Hamas operatives,” the IDF asserts.
In addition, 14 terrorists’ residences have been demolished in the area. What exactly is meant by the term “demolished” is unclear but in references to a dozen demolitions the report details the use of either “engineering tools” or “detonations”.
Among the fallout of the mass of operations in Gaza and elsewhere has been large-scale interrogations. The report affirms that 2,300 individuals have been apprehended and interrogated by Unit 504, the IDF’s intelligence arm. Many, it says, were identified as terrorists, some of whom took part in the October 7 massacre.
The report goes on to explain that, “During combat in Gaza, individuals suspected of terrorist activities are apprehended. The relevant suspects are interrogated within Gaza or are taken for further hold and questioning in Israeli territory. Those found not to be involved in terrorist activities are promptly and safely returned to Gaza.”
“For individuals for whom there is justified cause, in accordance with Israeli law, [they are held] to prolong their detainment, undergo a judicial review, where their case is presented before a judge for a thorough legal assessment.”
As all of the above has unfolded, the IDF has continued to train and hold exercises for its various personnel and elements. According to the report, over 43,000 soldiers have taken part in training dedicated to the war in IDF facilities.
More than 600 company and battalion exercises have been conducted along with 120 headquarters exercises within different commands. Not surprisingly, over 3,000 sniper training exercises have also been conducted.
As a reminder of the integration of Israel’s civil society and military, the report points out that 8,000-plus training exercises have been held with civilian rapid response teams in towns and communities across the nation since the War began.
Aid
The battle in Gaza is congruent with a wider battle for global public opinion which both sides have invested effort in. Data on humanitarian aid is included in the Interim Report to call attention to Israel’s agreement to allow international organizations to provide relief to Palestinians even as it fights to oust the terrorists cloaked within the population.
Operations to facilitate aid have seen the IDF and other Israeli authorities inspect 7,653 trucks at the Nitzana and Kerem Shalom Crossings on the Israel-Gaza-Egypt border, containing approximately 137,920 tons of humanitarian supplies.
Among these have been 3,950 trucks carrying 82,330 tons of food, 1,151 trucks carrying 16,630 tons of shelter equipment, 1,007 trucks carrying 11,510 tons of medical equipment and 863 trucks carrying 17,320 tons of water. Another 10,130 tons of mixed aid resources have been inspected and admitted to Gaza as well.
A War Within Limited Confines (so far)
Perhaps the most striking aspect of the report is its quantitative reinforcement of how much has gone on in an area (greater Israel) about the size of New Jersey. What has unfolded since October 7, 2023 has undoubtedly been both terrifying and tragic. But the sad reality is that a report on Interim Data from the War is in and of itself an indication that conflict is far from over.
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