Israeli Forces Accounted for Over Half of Global Civilian Deaths in 2025

The monitor, a research initiative involving groups like Human Rights Watch and Save the Children, recorded at least 22,616 civilian deaths across 65 nations in 2025. While the total number of victims fell, the severity of impacts on civilian infrastructure grew significantly. Attacks on humanitarian operations, aid workers, and camps surged by 52%, with 90% of those incidents occurring in Palestine.

Education and healthcare systems faced similar escalations, with strikes on schools rising by 64%. Beyond the immediate loss of life, the report warns that the normalization of such violence poses a long-term threat to community recovery. Researchers noted that even countries that formally endorsed international declarations to protect civilians from explosive weapons—including the United States, Turkey, and South Korea—continued to engage in practices that caused widespread harm.

UNICEF regional director Edouard Beigbeder condemned the ongoing violence, citing the recent deaths of children in Gaza and the West Bank. Local health officials report that since October 2023, the death toll in Gaza has reached at least 72,991, with thousands more killed in Lebanon. The report authors emphasize that this pattern of harm is not an unavoidable byproduct of war, but a foreseeable outcome of military decisions that treat civilian suffering as routine.