The [New York Times reported](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/21/world/middleeast/gaza-death-toll-palestinians.html) on Dec. 21 that the current war is now the deadliest for Arabs since Israel’s 1948 founding. The 20,000+ casualties reported by Gaza health authorities is said to be higher than that of the 1982 Lebanon war, though the Times reports that researchers say the number killed in Lebanon may never be known with confidence because of the fog of war, even four decades later. Regardless, the official toll for Gaza is widely considered to be an undercount because of the difficulties of counting the dead in the extreme conditions that Israel has created in Gaza.
The Times reports that the high death toll reflects how Israel has chosen to wage the war, using thousands of airstrikes, heavy bombs and artillery in a small territory densely packed with civilians who cannot escape (The Israelis excuse themselves by claiming that Hamas is hiding behind civilians, so obviously, in order to kill Hamas fighters, IDF troops have to shoot through civilians.)
