Memorial Day 2026: how many soldiers and civilians gave their lives for Israel

On the eve of Memorial Day, the Israeli Ministry of Defense and the National Insurance Institute published updated data, once again showing the real cost of the existence of the Jewish state. As of 2026, the total number of those fallen in Israel’s wars since 1860 has reached 25,648 people. Another 5,315 people are victims of terror and hostile actions, which are accounted for separately.

These figures have never been just statistics for Israeli society. Behind each number is a family, a story, an unhealed void, and personal pain that returns to the national memory with special force every year. That is why Memorial Day in Israel remains not a formal date, but one of the deepest and most unifying days in the public life of the country.

New data for Memorial Day: how much Israel has lost in the past year

According to the Ministry of Defense, since the previous Memorial Day, the names of 147 servicemen have been added to the list of the fallen. Another 47 disabled security personnel died during this period and were officially recognized as having died in Israel’s wars. In the final historical count since 1860, the number of fallen has reached 25,648.

This list includes, among others, two reservists — Staff Sergeant Lidor Porat and Staff Sergeant Barak Kalphon, who died last weekend in southern Lebanon. Also included were two servicemen who died under non-combat circumstances. For the Israeli audience, this is an important reminder that the cost of the country’s security is composed not only of loud combat episodes but also of the entire heavy everyday life of the army and service.

Separately, the ministry also reported on the scale of family loss. In Israel, there are currently 59,583 members of the families of fallen soldiers, including 8,420 parents, 4,872 widows, 14,430 orphans, 12 fiancées, and 35 guardians. The number of brothers and sisters of the deceased is 31,814 people, and through these data, it is especially clear how widely war and terrorism ripple through the entire society.

Who today is part of the circle of memory families

The Israeli state emphasizes that it is not only about the military accounting of the deceased but also about the constant support of their loved ones. The Department for the Affairs of the Families of the Fallen, Commemoration, and Heritage continues to accompany the relatives of the fallen, especially on the eve of mourning ceremonies, when personal loss once again becomes part of the national day of mourning.

In Israeli realities, this has special significance. Here, memory is not an abstract word, but part of the social contract that holds the connection between the army, the state, and the citizens. Therefore, each new figure in the official summary is perceived not as an archive update, but as another reminder of the price that Israel continues to pay for the right to exist and defend itself.

Victims of terror in Israel: what ‘Bituach Leumi’ reported

The National Insurance Institute published separate data on April 16 regarding civilian victims of terror and hostile actions. In the past year, 79 names were added to this list. Thus, the total number of terror victims has reached 5,315 people.

‘Bituach Leumi’ has been accounting for civilian victims since 1851, that is, since the period of the first Jewish settlements of the new era in Eretz-Israel. Of the total number of those killed in the 78 years of the State of Israel’s existence, 4,587 people were killed, including 810 children and adolescents. This is one of the most severe figures in all the published statistics because it shows how deeply terrorism has affected and continues to affect civilian life.

Special attention is also drawn to the structure of losses over the past year. Of the 79 killed civilians, 35 were killed during Operation ‘People — Lion’, and another 27 during Operation ‘Lion’s Roar’. In the Israeli informational and public context, such data sounds especially acute because it is not about distant history, but about the very recent experience of the country, which remains a living trauma for thousands of families.

How much the state pays to the victims and families of the deceased

Over the past three years, ‘Bituach Leumi’ has transferred more than 1.5 billion shekels to families who lost loved ones. The right to state assistance is held by 79,309 citizens affected by the terrorist attack on October 7, 2023, including 27,595 minors. They have already been allocated 599 million shekels.

It is separately reported that assistance is received by 728 people affected during the massacre at the Nova festival, and 118 of them serve in the security forces. These figures emphasize that the consequences of October 7 for Israel are not limited to just the day of the attack or the military operation in response. They continue in the social assistance system, in the destinies of children, in the restoration of families, and in the long-term support of those who survived one of the most terrible tragedies in the modern history of the country.

It is in such moments that NAnews — Israel News | Nikk.Agency considers it important to look not only at the scale of national pain but also at how the state tries to prevent society from disintegrating through memory, assistance, and recognition of sacrifice. For Israel, this is not a secondary topic, but an important part of the country’s internal resilience, which lives under constant external pressure and still must maintain care for its citizens.

How Memorial Day will be held on April 21 and what has changed due to the security situation

Due to the tense situation, mourning ceremonies at military cemeteries on April 21 will be held with restrictions imposed by the Home Front Command. This means that even the national day of mourning in Israel once again depends on the current security situation. For the country, this is almost a tragic norm: the memory of the fallen and the current threat are once again in the same time and space.

To facilitate visits to cemeteries, the Ministry of Defense has prepared a mobile application ‘Netivei-Zikaron’ — ‘Paths of Memory’. It allows for quickly determining the location of graves, which is especially important on days when thousands of people visit cemeteries. In addition, citizens are once again given the opportunity to light a memorial candle for the deceased on the ‘Izkor’ website, and this has become another way of participating in the collective memory for those who cannot come in person.

This is the peculiarity of Memorial Day in Israel in 2026. On one hand, the state publishes dry, precise, and heavy figures — 25,648 fallen soldiers and 5,315 terror victims. On the other hand, behind these data stands a living country that continues to fight, bury, remember, support families, and seek ways to maintain human dignity even within the endless cycle of losses.

For the Israeli reader, the main conclusion here is obvious. These figures speak not only of the past but also of the present of Israel: a country whose security is still paid for with lives, and national memory remains not a symbol, but a real part of daily life.