ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Israel’s defence ministry said Monday that 1,152 soldiers have been killed since October 7, two years ago. Nearly half were under 21 years old.

The ministry’s Families, Commemoration and Heritage Division said the toll includes personnel from the army, police, intelligence and special units killed in Gaza, southern and northern Israel, Lebanon and the occupied West Bank.

According to the data, 487 of the soldiers were aged under 21, while 141 were over 40. 

“The State of Israel carries a heavy price on its shoulders - our history was written in the blood of our sons and daughters,” said Aryeh Mualem, head of the division. He added that officials remain committed to commemorating the fallen and aiding their families “as a moral duty.”

Two years after the war’s outbreak on October 7, 2023, the ministry said it is still working to identify and bury soldiers killed in action and assist their families as the conflict continues.

The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas militants launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel, triggering a large-scale Israeli offensive in Gaza that later expanded to fronts in Lebanon and the West Bank.

Israel's offensive in Gaza has killed over 66,000 people, most of whom are civilians, according to Gaza's health ministry, with growing international backlash, perhaps most salient in a torrent of recognition of Palestinian statehood by Western countries in recent times, placing pressure on Israel and its allies to bring a halt to the bloodshed.

On average, 100 people are killed every day in Gaza according to UNRWA Commissioner General Phillippe Lazzarini, with reports by the UN Comission of Inquiry (COI) and Amnesty International having found Israel guilty of acts of genocide against the Palestinian people.  

Hamas on Friday announced that it had agreed to key points of a 20-point US President Donald Trump proposal to end the war in Gaza, granting "its approval to release all occupation prisoners, alive and deceased, according to the exchange formula."