The Defense Ministry announced on Thursday that 1,594 soldiers and civilians were killed in combat or by terror since Israel’s last Memorial Day. This marked the deadliest year for the country’s security forces and civilians since the 1973 Yom Kippur War, bringing the total tally of casualties to security forces since the establishment of the state to 30,134.
According to the Defense Ministry, 760 soldiers were killed while serving in the security forces during the past year. This number includes all soldiers, police officers, Shin Bet agents, and civilian security officers who died in the past year, whether in the line of duty, or as a result of an accident, illness, or suicide. Another 61 disabled veterans died due to complications from injuries sustained during their service in previous years, the ministry said.
Since Oct. 7, 711 soldiers and members of security forces have been killed. This includes 598 IDF soldiers, 39 local security officers, 68 police officers, and six Shin Bet members.
This brought the total number of Israelis who died during service to the country since 1860 to 25,034. This was the year from which Israel, and before it, the Jewish community in the region, began counting its fallen soldiers.
According to the National Insurance Institute, 834 Israelis were added to the list of civilian terror victims who perished in attacks since last Memorial Day, the vast majority of them during the October 7 massacre, bringing the total to 5,100 since 1851.
Since Oct. 7, 822 civilians — 531 men and 291 women — have been killed. This includes 40 children under the age of 18, and 68 foreign nationals.
12 civilians killed over the past year were in terror attacks before the war. Among them was Chana Tova Nachenberg, who was critically wounded in the Palestinian terrorist attack on the Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem in 2001. She succumbed to her wounds last year.
Hamas also abducted 252 civilians and soldiers on Oct. 7. 128 remain in captivity, though it is unclear how many are alive. 65 of the remaining hostages in Gaza are civilians. The other 67 are IDF troops, police officers, and members of local security teams in the southern communities that were attacked by Hamas. Israel has confirmed the deaths of 36 of those still held by Hamas.
Hamas has been holding the bodies of IDF soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin since 2014. Two Israeli civilians, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, are both thought to be alive after entering Gaza of their own accord in 2014 and 2015.
There are currently 1,294 bereaved parents in the country, along with 248 widows, 520 orphans, and 2,174 bereaved siblings, or a total of 4,236 people, the Defense Ministry reported.
