Hamas Casualties from “Operation Cast Lead” Initial Findings and Conclusions
Summary
“Operation Cast Lead” took place between 27/12/2008 and 18/1/2009. Upon its conclusion the parties declared a ceasefire and the time for summations has come. As part of these conclusions, Abu Obaida—the spokesperson for the Iz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, the military branch of Hamas, held a press conference on 19/1/2009 in which he outlined the military characteristics of the organization’s victory and enumerated the organization’s successes during the 22 days of the operation.[1]
The spokesperson claimed, amongst other things, that of over 1,300 casualties, only 48 were fighters in the organization, and that in fact all the rest were civilians.
This survey will confront this statement by Abu Obaida with the data regarding the Hamas and the Palestinian Police in Gaza casualties based on the organizations’ sources—data that was collected from the Iz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades online forums in Arabic and English.
Method
Data Gathering. A database was created detailing information on each Hamas casualty in the course of the “Operation Cast Lead”. A casualty was entered only when it was possible to determine with a high degree of probability that the casualty belonged to Hamas or the security organizations in the Gaza Strip and was killed in the course of the operation.
Despite this effort, it is possible that this list contains a marginal number of casualties that are not necessarily from the organization or that were killed before the operation. In this regard it should be clarified that the list includes two names that seem to appear twice, but were identified in different ways and using different attributions in the reports, despite the identical name.
Sources—All the data comes from a single source: the online forum of the Iz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades (almoltaqa.ps) active both in Arabic and in English.
In each language there is a room dedicated to reports and news items posted by forum participants about the organization’s prisoners and casualties. Most of the findings were gathered from the Arabic version of this room (http://www.almoltaqa.ps/arabic/forumdisplay.php?f=26) and only a few from the English version (http://www.almoltaqa.ps/english/forumdisplay.php?f=7).
The various reports include names and sometimes minimal details about the casualties. Sometimes these are lists of casualties (for example, the list of 182 casualties of the Palestinian Police, a lists containing a few dozen of the organization’s casualties sorted according to a cross section of battalions or of areas) and sometimes single reports and photos in memory of a particular casualty, or in memory of the casualties of a certain neighborhood.
It should be noted that the online forum is a separate website but the link to it is found only on the English version of the Iz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades (alqassam.ps/english) and not on the Arab version or on the site of the Palestine Information Center in different languages (palestine-info.info).
Duration of coverage. All the reports posted in these rooms were checked between the dates of 27/12/2008 and 07/02/2009 in order to include information posted about casualties which was more recent than the date of the conclusion of the operation.
Transcription. The names of the casualties, the units, the location and the events were transcribed from the Arab sources, while trying to maintain the content as originally written.
The database. The names of the casualties were assembled in a table containing all the information gathered. The existing information was supplemented from various reports in the forums and the exact web address of each report was noted.
See appendix “Operation Cast Lead”—Hamas Casualties.
Findings
Over the course of the six weeks of coverage, the names and details of 433 Hamas casualties were gathered from the aforementioned online forums. Amongst those, 178 were killed on the first day of the operation.[2] In all probability this number is much higher. For 236 of the casualties, there is no mention of their date of death.
The data gathered enables a categorization of the Hamas casualties in several ways and enables some definitive conclusions to be derived.
The location of the civilians. Apart from the list of Nizar Riyan’s family members who were killed with him, there is no specific mention in the online forums of civilians, women, or children by name. Thus, the list of all of the 433 casualties most likely refers to the casualties from the ranks of the Hamas and the Palestinian Police only.
Unit ascription. The following table examines the ascription of the Hamas casualties divided into the organization’s various brigades.[3]
Table 1. Hamas casualties according to unit
| Battalion | Number of casualties | Number of them that held a position in the Palestinian Police |
| Al-Nusi’rat Battalion | 22 | 3 |
| Dir al-Balach Battalion | 18 | 4 |
| Jabalya Battalion | 9 | 9 |
| Al-Burej Battalion | 7 | 2 |
| Al-Mughazi Battalion | 6 | 1 |
| Al-Tufah Battalion | 1 | 1 |
| Salah Al-Din Battalion | 1 | 1 |
| Al-Shati Battalion | 1 | – |
| Tel Al-Islam Battalion | 1 | – |
| The Artillery Unit | 6 | 3 |
| The Special Unit | 5 | 2 |
| The Suicide Bomber Unit | 2 | 2 |
| The Missile Unit | 2 | – |
| The Armored Corps Unit | 2 | 1 |
| Members of Palestinian Police | 192 | |
| With no organizational affiliation | 171 |
One hundred and one of the casualties are directly ascribed to the fighting forces of the organization and its various battalions (most of them based on a report from the same online forum). [4]
Among the 171 with no direct organizational affiliation according to the reports in the forum, 71 of them are directly identified with the fighting and with the organization according to title. The titles include: “the Shahid Fighter”, “the Shahid Commander”, the “Qassam Shahid”, “the commanding Qassam Shahid” and more.
Of the remaining 100 casualties (those defined as “shahid” or “hero shahid”) it was claimed that one of them was killed during the bombing of a post (this casualty is called “Hero Shahid”).
It is my contention that many, if not all, of the remaining 99 casualties belong also to Hamas even if they are sometimes defined in reports on the online forums as a “shahid” or a “heroic shahid” and not as a “fighting shahid” or “Qassami shahid” etc.
- In one of the main reports[5] which contained a detailed list of dozens of casualties, there is mention of Bahaa’ Ziad Al-Gharbali as a “shahid” with no additional details.[6] However, in another report[7] he is considered a “Qassam shahid” and receives a poster with his photo and details about his demise as well as the date of the event.
This is true also of Shadi Al-Sabah, who is defined in one list as a “shahid” and in another as a “fighting Qassam shahid”.
- Ayman Abu Jazzar[8] is defined as a “shahid”, but in the same report he is identified as the “Commander of the Artillery Unit at the Al-Nazar Sallah Al-Din Brigade in Rafah”. The same is true for Alaa’ Faisal Afana who is also called a “shahid” but is linked with the “Special Qassam Unit—the Al-Shati Brigade” in five different reports.
- Even the chief of the Palestinian Police in Gaza, Taufiq Ja’ber, is called a “Major-General shahid”.
- Sometimes a casualty is referred to as a “shahid” in one list and as holding a rank position in the Palestinian Police in another list. For example, the “shahid” Razeq Salman[9] who is one report is identified as a corporal[10] is amongst the casualties of the Palestinian Police.
Indeed, from the table of the casualties of the Palestinian police in a cross section of rank (Table no. 4) one can see that the title “shahid” was given to almost all those holding the rank of “Policeman” up to “Captain”. These names and others were included in the database attached as an appendix to this report, with their full title.
We see that sometimes a certain casualty is identified in one report as a “shahid” but in another as a “Qassam shahid” due to the fact that these reports are posted to the online forum by various users. Likewise, there are reports where the name of the casualty is incomplete and in others, complete (Razeq Salman versus Razeq Mahmmud Salman Salman).
- In addition, all the 99 casualties with unidentified organizational affiliation are men, out of whom 20% were between the ages of 14 and 45, half of them (11 casualties) between the ages of 22 and 29 and over a quarter of those with no identifiable organizational affiliation, were killed on the first day of the operation.
An examination of the affiliation of those killed from the ranks of the Palestinian Police in Gaza shows that here too, many were from the operational units and only a few were administrative staff.
Table 2. Palestinian Police Casualties in Gaza according to unit
| Unit in Palestinian Police | Number of casualties |
| Intervention and Public Order Force | 39 |
| Disciplinary | 25 |
| Security | 19 |
| The Naval Force | 14 |
| Anti-Drug Unit | 11 |
| Mounted Police | 11 |
| Rescue | 6 |
| Orchestra | 5 |
| Interrogation | 5 |
| Law Court Guard | 4 |
| Legislative Security against Aggression | 3 |
Connection with the Palestinian Police. from the data in the tables, one can see the close connection between the Hamas and the Palestinian Police in Gaza.
The 33 casualties affiliated with the Hamas fighting forces (Table 1) also hold a position in the Palestinian Police forces in Gaza. Additionally 20 of the 193 casualties of the Palestinian Police have a double organizational affiliation[11] attesting to the fact they are members of the Hamas as well as serving in the Palestinian Police.[12]
Additional testimony to this close connection is provided by the following table which illustrates the division of Hamas casualties in a cross section of the title attributed to them in reports of their deaths. From this table it appears that 28 of those identified with the fighting forces of Hamas based on title have a double title. On the one hand they are called fighting shahids in various ways, and on the other hand they have various police ranks.
Table no. 3—Hamas casualties according to title
| Title | Number | Of which have a police rank |
| The shahid | 94 | 15 |
| The hero shahid | 34 | 5 |
| The fighter shahid | 49 | 10 |
| The hero fighter shahid | 3 | 1 |
| The commander shahid | 4 | – |
| The Qassami shahid | 23 | 3 |
| The Qassami hero shahid | 1 | – |
| The Qassami fighter shahid | 83 | 13 |
| The Qassami commander shahid | 5 | 1 |
| The hero Qassami commander shahid | 1 | – |
| The Qassami Field Commander shahid | 2 | – |
| Without affiliating title | 33 |
Of the 33 casualties with no affiliating title (“shahid” or “fighter shahid” etc), 27 are organizationally connected with Palestinian Police, one is claimed to have committed suicide (it is possible his inclusion in the table is error). So that only five casualties have no title or organizational affiliation.
Table no. 4—Palestinian Police in Gaza casualties according to rank
| Rank in Palestinian Police | Number | Of them, which have a another title |
| Captain | 8 | 3 (“the shahid”, “the fighter shahid”) |
| First lieutenant | 4 | 1 (“the shahid”) |
| Second lieutenant | 20 | 5 (“the shahid”, “the hero shahid”, “the fighter Qassami shahid”, “the commanding Qassam shahid”) |
| First sergeant major | 2 | 1 (“the Qassam field commander shahid”) |
| Sergeant major | 13 | 5 (“the shahid”, “the fighter shahid”, “the fighting Qassam shahid”) |
| Staff Sergeant | 25 | 8 (“the shahid”, “the fighter shahid”, “The Qassami fighter shahid”) |
| Sergeant | 11 | 3 (“the Qassam shahid”, “the fighting Qassam shahid”) |
| Corporal | 21 | 9 (“the shahid”, “the hero shahid”, “the fighter shahid”, “the hero fighting shahid”, “the Qassam shahid”, “the fighting Qassam shahid”) |
| Policeman | 34 | 13 (“the shahid”, “the fighter shahid”, “the fighting Qassam shahid” |
| Soldier | 1 | – |
Of 192 casualties organizationally affiliated with the Palestinian Police, 139 have rank; the remaining 53 belong to the police but have no rank.
The role of the fighting ranks. 171 of the casualties are directly identified (Table 3) as casualties belonging to the fighting system (“the fighter shahid”, “the Qassam shahid” and others). It should be noted that some of those defined as a “shahid” or “hero shahid” are part of the Palestinian Police. At the same time, 84 of the casualties are directly connected with the various battalions of Hamas and the other 17 are connected to the various units (Table 1).
Even regarding the Palestinian police it can be seen that many of its casualties are amongst the operational units and ranks.
Conclusions
All of the above brings us to the following conclusions:
There is a close connection between Hamas and the Palestinian Police in the Gaza Strip as far as the casualties identified with both entities at the same time goes; half of the casualties were from the ranks of the police.
In addition, many casualties come from the fighting and operational ranks and units, both from the ranks of Hamas and from the ranks of the Palestinian Police.
It has been shown that most of the casualties come from the ranks of Hamas and also that if a casualty is identified as a “shahid”, it is possible that in another report he is identified as having some police rank or even as a “Qassam shahid”.
The sum total of all this data depicts the scope of the distortion of the “victory” presented by the Hamas. In actuality, not only is the number of Hamas casualties higher than 48, but many of them come from the operational ranks and units of Hamas and the Palestinian Police, with fewer from the administrative or supporting units.
Therefore, the declaration by the spokesperson for the Iz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades according to which only 48 people from the organization’s ranks died, is baseless and puts in doubt the organization’s declarations regarding its achievements on the one hand, and the sum total of all the casualties in the operation on the other hand. Hamas claimed that not only is the number of its claimed casualties low, but it is also smaller than the number of the IDF’s casualties. Our data shows this image that Hamas wishes to instill in its supporters and in the world with regards to the victory if patently untrue, and has nothing to do with reality. All of the above attests that as far as the Hamas casualties are concerned, there is no relation between this portrayal and the reality. The real image is the one received from the field, through the dozens of residents detailing in the online forums of the military branch, the casualties that fell and the friends who were lost.
Appendix—“Operation Cast Lead”—Hamas casualties
[1] The Palestinian Information Center, “Al-Qassam: We carried out dozens of painful strikes against the IOF troops,”, 19.01.2009. 04:28 PM.
[2] There is a poster in memory of the organization’s casualties (http://www.almoltaqa.ps/arabic/showthread.php?t=101467), from among the people of Dir Al-Balah and the Palestinian Police. It contains 17 photos of fighters who died “during the massacre Gaza was under in December 2008”. The database contains these names, but they were not amongst those killed on the first day due to the lack of an exact date of demise.
[3] About the structure of the Az Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, see:
The Information Center for Intelligence and Terrorism, the Center for Intelligence Heritage, “The Process of the Hamas Military Strengthening in the Gaza Strip (situation report updated to March 2008)”, April 2008, pages 9-11.
http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/Hebrew/heb_n/pdf/hamas_080408h.pdf
[4] http://www.almoltaqa.ps/arabic/showthread.php?t=95497
[5] http://www.almoltaqa.ps/arabic/showthread.php?t=101754
[6] http://www.almoltaqa.ps/arabic/showthread.php?t=101754
[7] http://www.almoltaqa.ps/arabic/showthread.php?t=103952
[8] http://www.almoltaqa.ps/arabic/showthread.php?t=104861
[9] http://www.almoltaqa.ps/arabic/showthread.php?t=105472
[10] http://www.almoltaqa.ps/arabic/showthread.php?t=102851
[11] The double affiliation, whether of organizational or title,, stems from the difference in reference to the same casualty in various published announcements.
[12] Additional testimony to these websites regarding the identity between the Palestinian Police in Gaza and the Hamas organization can be found in the following quotations:
“The internal-security mechanisms of the Hamas in the strip number about 10 thousand activists, of which about 6,000 belong to the police, many of its members are former members of the operational force”.
“The police has today about 6 thousand activists, most of them Hamas activists and a few are activists of other terrorist organizations”. Ibid.
International Institute for Counter-Terrorism, “Hamas Casualties from ‘Operation Cast Lead’ – Initial Findings and Conclusions,”, The Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, 20.04.2009.
https://www.ict.org.il/images/ICT-Hamas_Casualties_Operation_Cast_Lead.pdf
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