319 soldiers, 79 civilians killed since last Memorial Day

Three hundred and nineteen soldiers were killed during their military service since Israel’s last Memorial Day, according to figures released by the Defense Ministry on Friday, highlighting the devastating toll of the wars fought in Gaza and Lebanon over the last year.

Another 61 disabled veterans died due to complications from injuries sustained during their service, the ministry said.

The numbers brought the total to 25,420 of those who have died during service to the country since 1860, the year from which Israel, and before it the Jewish community in the region, began counting its fallen soldiers and defenders.

The annual figures include 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.

The vast majority of the 319 were killed amid the ongoing war, during fighting in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, and the West Bank.

Since the start of the war, which began on October 7, 2023, with the Hamas terror group’s onslaught in southern Israel, 928 soldiers and members of security forces have been killed. They include 809 IDF soldiers, 39 local security officers, 70 police officers, and 10 Shin Bet members.

Israeli fighter jets fly over soldiers standing next to comrades’ graves during a rehearsal on the eve of the country’s Memorial Day for fallen soldiers at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, May 12, 2024. (AP/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Last Memorial Day marked the year with the highest fatalities among security forces since the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

Seventy-nine names were also added to the list of terror victims who perished in attacks in the past year, bringing the total to 5,229 since 1851, according to Israel’s National Insurance Institute.

This brought the total tally of casualties among security forces and civilians in terror attacks to 30,649.

Since the start of the war, 934 civilians have been killed, 778 of them in the October 7 onslaught, the Institute said. They include 615 men and 319 women, according to the Institute’s figures. Among them are 58 children under the age of 18 and 76 foreign nationals, it said.

Israel’s Memorial Day will commence Tuesday evening when a one-minute siren will blare across the country. On Wednesday morning, a two-minute siren will sound ahead of national memorial ceremonies at Israel’s 58 military cemeteries.

Memorial Day is one of Israel’s few national, non-religious holidays, during which large swaths of the Israeli public typically visit the graves of loved ones and comrades.

The Defense Ministry said Friday that in Israel today, there are 8,674 bereaved parents, 5,391 widows, 10,302 orphans, and 34,250 siblings. In all, there are 58,617 bereaved family members, 5,944 of whom were added since the beginning of the war, the ministry said.

According to the National Insurance Institute, there are another 2,346 parents, 1,058 widows and widowers, 4,753 orphans, and 6,155 siblings who lost their relatives in terror attacks.

The Defense Ministry on Friday said it called on the public to give priority to members of bereaved families and soldiers at cemeteries across the country on Memorial Day, as it expected a “particularly high number” of people visiting the graves of their loved ones.