Palestinian casualties of war

This is a list of casualties suffered by Palestinians in war.

Note: Article is not comprehensive. Some records of Palestinian casualties are under dispute. The criteria used for this article: Casualties inflicted by war or combat. Casualties considered to be "unnecessary deaths" not included. Graph only includes casualties of Palestinian Arabs and not other actors. Bold indicates major actors.

1920–1948

Conflicts prior to Israel's independence	Actors involved	Combatant deaths	Civilian deaths	Total deaths	Combatant and/or Civilian wounded	Total casualties
1920 Palestine riots	British Empire, Arab rioters.	Not applicable	4	4	23	31
Jaffa riots	British Army, Arab rioters.	unknown	unknown	48	73	121
1929 Palestine riots	, British Army Palestine Police Force, Betar. Arab rioters.	116 rioters[1]	unknown	116 Arabs 133 Jews	232 Arabs 198 Jews	679
1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine	British Army, Haganah, Arab High Command.[2][better source needed]	British and Jewish forces 562; Palestinian Arabs ca.5,000		5,000	15,550 of which,15,000 Arab Palestinians.	18,000–24,000+
Palestine Civil War	British Army, Army of the Holy War, Arab Liberation Army, Irgun, Haganah, Palmach.	400–600[3][better source needed]	200–300[4]	At least 720[3][better source needed]	1,171	1,800

Total casualties for this period 20,631, including 6,092 fatalities.

1948–2024

Conflicts	Actors involved	Combatant deaths	Civilian deaths	Total deaths	Combatant and/or Civilian wounded	Total casualties
1948 Palestine war, also known as the Nakba[5][6]	Israel Defense Forces Kingdom of Egypt Syrian Republic (1946–1963) Jordan Lebanon Kingdom of Iraq, Army of the Holy War, Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen, Arab Liberation Army, Muslim Brotherhood,	3,700 foreign Arab troops; 1,953 Palestinians died during battles.	11,047 Palestinians missing presumed dead though not known to have died in combat situations[7]	3,000-13 000 (The higher figure indicate missing and presumed death, though not known to have died in combat situation)[8][9]		3,000? c. 3,000?[5]
1949–1967 fedayeen war[10][11][12][13]	Egyptian Armed Forces Unit 101 Palestinian militants	2,700–5,000	unknown	2,800–5,000+	500 (at least)	3,200–5,000
Qibya massacre[14]	Israel Defense Forces	unknown	42	42	unknown	42
Battle of Karameh[15]	Israel Defense Forces, Palestine Liberation Organization Jordanian Armed Forces	156	0	156	100	256
War of Attrition[16][better source needed]	IDF special forces, Palestinian Baathist	100 (at least)	unknown	100	unknown	100+
Black September in Jordan 1970–1971[17][18]	Jordan Palestine Liberation Organization	3,400	unknown	3,400	unknown	3,400
1973 Israeli raid on Lebanon	Israel Defense Forces Palestine Liberation Organization	100+	0	100+	unknown	100+
Lebanese Civil War (1975–1977)[19][20]	Lebanon Fatah Rejectionist Front Lebanese Front Syrian Armed Forces Lebanese Forces	1,000's. Unknown	5,000+	5,000 (at least). Unknown	4,000 (at least). Unknown	5,000–10,000+
1978 South Lebanon conflict	Lebanon Israel Defense Forces Palestinian Liberation Organization	1,000–2,000	0	1,000–2,000	unknown, heavy	2,000+
1982 Lebanon War[21]	Lebanon Israel Defense Forces Syrian Armed Forces Palestinian Liberation Organization South Lebanon Army Amal	unknown	unknown	5,000–8,000[22] 15,000–20,000[23][24]	30,000[23][24]	15,000-20,000[23][24]
War of the Camps[25][26]	Lebanon Amal Movement Palestinian Liberation Organization	2,000 killed by Amal, 3,000+ killed by other Palestinians	unknown, heavy	5,000+	unknown, heavy	8,000+
First Intifada[27][28]	Israel Defense Forces Palestinian Liberation Organization Hamas PFLP	1,000 killed by Israel security forces, 1,000 killed by other Palestinians	unknown	2,000 (at least)	unknown, heavy	2,000+
Second Intifada[29][30]	Israel Defense Forces Fatah Hamas PFLP Islamic Jihad	2,000–3,500+, disputed	1,099–2,800	4,791 killed by Israeli security forces, 714 killed by other Palestinians	8,611 {unverified-Palestinian claims}	13,400+
Fatah-Hamas conflict[31]	Fatah Hamas	248	98 (at least)	600	1,000 wounded	1,600
2008–9 Gaza War[32]	Israel Defense Forces Hamas	491–709, disputed	295–962	1,166–1,417	5,303	6,400–6,700
March 2012 Gaza-Israel clashes[33]	Israel Defense Forces Popular Resistance Committees	18	3	21	24	45
November 2012 Israeli "Operation Pillar of Defense"-Gaza[34][35]	Israel Defense Forces Popular Resistance Committees	67–120	109	174–177	unknown
2014 Israel–Gaza conflict	Israel Defense Forces Hamas	693	1617	2310	unknown
2021 Israel–Palestine crisis	Israel Defense Forces Hamas			275
Israel–Hamas war	Israel Defense Forces Hamas			35,562[36]		81,420[37]

Total casualties for this period 144,963, including 66,789 fatalities.

Timeline chart

Palestinians killed.^[38]

Gallery

• 
  Palestinians returning to Qibya shortly after the Qibya massacre.
• 
  An Arab autobus after being attacked by Irgun during the 1948 Israeli-Arab War.
• 
  Ruins of Lydda after the Israel Defense Forces conquered it in July 1948.
• 
  Destroyed buildings during the Gaza War (2008–09).
• 
  An Israeli armoured bulldozer used in the Battle of Jenin (2002).
• 
  Destroyed and damaged buildings in Gaza City.

See also

• History portal
• Palestine portal
• Politics portal

• Casualties of Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip
• Zionist political violence
• Timeline of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
  • Violence in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict 2002
  • Violence in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict 2003
  • Violence in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict 2004
  • Violence in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict 2005
  • Violence in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict 2006
  • Violence in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict 2007
  • Violence in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict 2008
  • List of violent incidents in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, 2011
• Israeli casualties of war
• Casualties of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war

References

1. Great Britain, 1930: Report of the Commission on the disturbances of August 1929, Command paper 3530 (Shaw Commission report), p. 65.
2. The 1936 Riots. Jewishvirtuallibrary.org.
3. "British Rule in Palestine".
4. Gilbert, Martin (2005). Routledge Atlas of the Arab-Israeli Conflict.
5. Morris 2008, pp. 404–406.
6. Arab Israel War 1948–1949 Archived 6 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Onwar.com.
7. Henry Laurens, La Question de Palestine, Fayard, Paris 2007 vol.3 p.194.The total figure of those missing who are not known to have died in battle is given by 'Arif al-'Arif as 11,047, composed of 4,004 people whose names are unknown, but the place and dates of the circumstances are known:7,043 dead whose names are unknown, nor dates of death, but of whom the villages where they dwelt at the time are known.
8. "Armed Conflict Year Index". onwar.com. Archived from the original on 1 May 2018. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
9. Laurens 2007 p.194
10. Orna Almog (2003). Britain, Israel, and the United States, 1955–1958: Beyond Suez. Routledge. p. 20. ISBN 0-7146-5246-6.
11. Benny Morris (1993). Border Wars, 1949–1956: The Sinai-Suez Wars and the end of the Fedayeen. Oxford University Press. pp. 419–425. ISBN 0-19-829262-7.
12. Thomas G. Mitchell (2000). Native Vs. Settler: Ethnic Conflict in Israel/Palestine, Northern Ireland, and South Africa. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 133. ISBN 0-313-31357-1.
13. Benny Morris (1993) Israel's Border Wars, 1949–1956: Arab Infiltration, Israeli Retaliation, and the Countdown to the Suez War Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-829262-7 P 67
14. Benny Morris, Israel's Border Wars, 1949–1956: Arab Infiltration, Israeli Retaliation and the Countdown to the Suez War, Oxford University Press, 1993, pp. 258–9.
15. Pollack (2002), pp. 331–332
16. Israeli Elite Units since 1948, Sam Katz, Osprey Publishing 1988, p.31-32
17. Bailey, p.59, The Making of a War, John Bulloch, p.67
18. Massad, Joseph Andoni. Colonial Effects: The Making of National Identity in Jordan. Page 342.
19. Tel El Zaatar 1976 'Tal el zaatar' ' Tel al zaatar '. Liberty05.com.
20. Lebanon (Civil War 1975–1991). Globalsecurity.org.
21. Osprey Men-At-Arms series, 1985
22. Gabriel, Richard, A, Operation Peace for Galilee, The Israeli-PLO War in Lebanon, New York: Hill & Wang. 1984, p. 164, 165, ISBN 0-8090-7454-0
23. Fisk, Robert (2001). Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War. Oxford University Press. pp. 255–257. ISBN 978-0-19-280130-2.
24. "The 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon: the casualties". Race & Class. 24 (4): 340–3. 1983. doi:10.1177/030639688302400404. S2CID 220910633.
25. "WAR STATS REDIRECT". users.erols.com.
26. Lebanese Civil War 1985 – 1987. Liberty05.com.
27. Collaborators, One Year Al-Aqsa Intifada, Fact Sheets And Figures Archived 6 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine. Phrmg.org.
28. Fatalities in the first Intifada | B'Tselem. Btselem.org.
29. ICT Middleastern Conflict Statistics Project Archived 3 July 2007 at the Wayback Machine. 212.150.54.123 (1 January 2005).
30. Fatalities | B'Tselem Archived 5 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Btselem.org.
31. "Over 600 Palestinians killed in internal clashes since 2006". Ynetnews. Ynet. 6 June 2007.
32. Archived 1 February 2010 at the Wayback Machine
33. "New Israeli Airstrikes Kill 3 in Gaza". 12 March 2012.
34. Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the implementation of Human Rights Council resolutions S-9/1 and S-12/1, Addendum, 6 March 2013.
35. staff, T. O. I. "After eight days of fighting, ceasefire is put to the test". The Times of Israel.
36. "Hostilities in the Gaza Strip and Israel | Flash Update #168". UN OCHA. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
37. "Health Ministry In Hamas-run Gaza Says War Death Toll At 36,171". Barrons. Agence France Presse. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
38. "Data on casualties". United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs - occupied Palestinian territory (OCHAoPt). United Nations. Archived from the original on 12 October 2023. Retrieved 12 October 2023.