War of Attrition - Casualties

Casualties

According to military historian Ze'ev Schiff, some 721 Israelis, of which 594 were soldiers and the remainder civilians, were killed on all three fronts. Chaim Herzog notes a slightly lower figure of just over 500 killed and some 2000 wounded while Netanel Lorch, states that 1,424 soldiers were killed in action between the period of June 15, 1967 and August 8, 1970. Between 14 and 16 Israeli aircraft were shot down. A Soviet estimate notes aircraft losses of 30. One destroyer, the INS Eilat, was sunk.

As with the previous Arab-Israeli wars of 1948, 1956 and 1967, Arab losses far exceeded those of Israel but precise figures are difficult to ascertain because official figures were never disclosed. The lowest estimate comes from the former Egyptian Army Chief of Staff, Saad El Shazly, who notes Egyptian casualties of 2,882 killed and 6,285 wounded. Historian Benny Morris states that a more realistic figure is somewhere on the scale of 10,000 soldiers and civilians killed. Ze'ev Schiff notes that at the height of the war, the Egyptians were losing some 300 soldiers daily and aerial reconnaissance photos revealed at least 1,801 freshly dug graves near the Canal zone during this period. Among Egypt's war dead was the Egyptian Army Chief of Staff, Abdul Munim Riad.

Between 98 and 114 Egyptian aircraft were shot down though a Soviet estimate notes air losses of 60. A number of Egyptian naval vessels were sunk. The PLO suffered 1,828 killed and 2,500 captured. Jordan’s intervention on behalf of the PLO during the Battle of Karameh cost it 84 killed and two aircraft lost. An estimated 58 Soviet military personnel were killed and four to five Soviet piloted MiG-21 aircraft were shot down in aerial combat. Syrian casualties are unknown but an armored raid by Israeli forces against Syrian positions in June 1970 led to "hundreds of Syrian casualties." Cuban forces, which were deployed on the Syrian front, were estimated to have lost 180 dead and 250 wounded.