Nearly half of the Gazans killed during the recent Operation Guardian of the Walls conflict (May 10-21) between Israel and Hamas were associated with terrorist organizations, according to a report Tuesday by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, a think tank
The center said at least 48 percent of those killed in Gaza were associated with terrorist organizations.
According to the report, approximately 112 of the 234 estimated casualties were linked to Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) or another terrorist group. Another 11 casualties “might have been” associated with terror groups due to the circumstances of the deaths, but there was no conclusive proof.
Within that figure of 112, 63 casualties were associated with Hamas; 20 were PIJ terrorists; 25 were associated with a Fatah terror group and the rest were linked to splinter groups.
At least five casualties were killed while fighting the IDF using dual identities; these men were allegedly “internal police” forces.
In addition, 21 Gazans died from misfired rockets that were aimed at Israel.
Among civilians, 52 casualties were children, 38 were women and five were elderly, over age 70, the report said. Five civilians died from unrelated causes.