The generation that didn’t have time to grow up: under 21 years old 42% of those killed in the war since October 7, 2023

When numbers become pain, and statistics become memory, dry reports turn into pages of national mourning.
The Israeli Ministry of Defense published data on October 6, 2025, for the two-year anniversary of the war that began on October 7, 2023. And the numbers, as always in Israel, do not hide behind anonymity — because each of them has a name, a family, and a face.

A generation that did not have time to grow up

Since the beginning of the war, 1,152 people have died.
Of them, 487 were under 21 years old. This is 42% of all conflict victims.
Those who were just beginning to live. Those whose parents still keep their school photos on the walls, and in WhatsApp chats still see the status “online.”

141 of the deceased were over 40 years old — fathers, commanders, volunteers who returned to service to support their own.

A price that cannot be counted

In two years, more than 6,500 Israelis lost loved ones.
These are not just numbers — these are 1,973 parents who lost children.
351 widows whose lives are divided into “before” and “after.”
885 orphans who grow up in homes where silence is louder than words.
3,481 brothers and sisters who will no longer hear the laughter of those they shared childhood with.

This data includes IDF soldiers, police officers, Shin Bet, reservists, and volunteers who fell in battles — from the Gaza Strip to Lebanon, from Sderot to Galilee, from Judea and Samaria to southern kibbutzim.

War orphans: childhood that was cut short

A separate statistic was presented by the organization “Hamaniyot”, which helps war orphans.
In two years, 987 children lost one or both parents.
Of them, 686 are children of servicemen who died in the line of duty.
301 children lost parents due to terrorist attacks.
39 babies were born after their fathers’ deaths.

Just in the last year, their number increased by 173.

A small country with a big memory

Israel is a country where everyone knows someone who knows the deceased. Here, names are not hidden. Here, losses are read aloud — on the radio, in squares, in schools.

Every year, on the anniversary, the Ministry of Defense publishes exact data — not for reporting, but for memory.
These numbers do not speak of war as statistics. They remind us that Israel is a small country where every life is a whole story.

Names instead of numbers

Unlike many other countries, Israel considers it its duty not to hide pain behind dry numbers.
Here, each name is pronounced separately, and each deceased becomes part of the national narrative — of resilience, youth, and the price that must be paid for the right to exist.