Number of wounded Israel soldiers is much higher than army reports: Haaretz

Israel’s Haaretz newspaper revealed the large gap between the numbers of wounded soldiers reported by the Israeli army and hospital records, which showed that the numbers of wounded soldiers is much higher.

The newspaper said: “According to the Health Ministry’s data, 10,548 soldiers and civilians who were wounded in the war have been admitted between October 7 and December 10. Of those, 131 in hospital, 471 were admitted in severe or critical condition, while 868 were listed in moderate condition.”

The newspaper noted that the occupation army published the number of wounded soldiers yesterday, for the first time since the outbreak of the aggression, stating that 1,593 Israeli soldiers have been wounded during this period.

“The military noted that 255 soldiers had suffered serious injuries, 446 moderate injuries and 892 minor injuries. The army released the information on the numbers of wounded soldiers and their condition after Haaretz reported two weeks ago that it had been refusing to do so,” reported Haaretz.

However, after the newspaper conducted an examination with the hospitals where the wounded soldiers have been and are treated, “a considerable and unexplained gap between the data reported by the military and that from the hospitals” was revealed. The newspaper noted that hospital data shows the number of wounded soldiers to be twice as high as the army’s numbers.

“For example, Barzilai Medical Centre in Ashkelon alone reports treating 1,949 soldiers hurt in the war since October 7 (out of 3,117 injured people treated there during the war), whereas the army reports a total of 1,593 wounded soldiers. Assuta Ashdod reportedly treated 178 patients, Ichilov (Tel Aviv) 148, Rambam (Haifa) 181, Hadassah (Jerusalem) 209 and Sha’arei Tzedek (Jerusalem) 139,” said the newspaper.

Haaretz added: “Another 1,000 or so soldiers were treated at Be’er Sheva’s Soroka Medical Centre, while another 650 were treated at Sheba Medical Centre in Tel-Hashomer. This is a partial list, as the data does not include soldiers currently in rehab wards who have already been counted as wounded upon arrival at emergency wards and inpatient wards.”

“Even accounting for various notation and reporting gaps, which may occur in the hospital field, the discrepancy is large between the army’s figures and those of the hospitals. Reporting gaps include duplicate registration of wounded transferred from one hospital to another. It’s also possible that at least some hospitals admitted soldiers requiring medical attention unrelated to the war,” reported the newspaper.

The newspaper stressed that since 7 October, 10,584 soldiers and civilians wounded in the aggression were admitted to hospitals in the occupation state, of which 131 died while receiving treatment in hospital, 471 were in a severe or critical condition, 868 were in a moderate condition, and 8,308 suffered minor injuries. Some 600 suffered anxiety attacks and 206 were in an unknown condition.

Haaretz added that as of today, the Israeli army will update the number of wounded every day at 13:00 local time.

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