Lebanese Casualty Counts Seen as More Credible Than Gaza’s, Say Israelis

News Analysis As the Lebanon–Israel war continues, with Israel attacking Hezbollah targets in south Lebanon, Beirut, and elsewhere, casualties are mounting. Unlike the rising death toll in Gaza, however, the official count from Lebanese authorities is in general more accepted by Israel and appears to be used readily by the Israeli military. As of Oct. 28, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry, 2,710 people in Lebanon had died since Hezbollah began attacking Israel on Oct. 8, 2023. In Gaza, Hamas-controlled health authorities have long been accused by Israel and some observers of fudging and outright fabrication in an effort to inflate the count. But with the Lebanese numbers, how much influence Hezbollah has on casualty counting is a much more open question. While the Iran-financed terrorist group controls nearly half of the Lebanese Parliament, with many loyalists in the government bureaucracy, it doesn’t comprehensively run Lebanon in the way that Hamas runs Gaza....