IDF’s 2025 casualty data shows sharp drop in soldier deaths, suicide figures remain steady

The IDF releases its data on soldier deaths in 2025, showing a sharp drop in overall fatalities compared to the previous year, largely reflecting a decline in combat deaths as the intensity of the fighting in Gaza eased.

According to the military, a total of 151 soldiers died in 2025. Of those, 88 were killed during operational activity and three in terror attacks. Another 15 soldiers died of illness, while 21 deaths were ruled, or are still being investigated, as suicides.

The data also shows 18 soldiers were killed in car accidents, one died in an accidental discharge of a weapon, and five were killed in other accidents.

By comparison, in 2024 the IDF recorded 363 fatalities, including 295 killed in operational activity and 11 in terror attacks, amid the first full year of fighting following Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught. That year also saw at least 21 suspected suicides, alongside 23 accidental deaths and 13 deaths from illness.

While the overall toll in 2025 was significantly lower than in 2024, the number of deaths classified as suicides remained roughly the same as the previous year, as the military grapples with the long-term psychological impact of the war on its personnel.

Earlier today, IDF chief Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir instructed the IDF to implement recommendations made by a committee tasked with examining the military’s response to suicides linked to psychological trauma from military service.