‘You’ve No Idea How Many You’ve Killed?’ Israeli Spox Falls Silent As Piers Morgan Grills Him On Civilian Death Figures

Israeli government spokesman Avi Hyman fell silent as Piers Morgan grilled him on being unable to provide figures for the number of civilians killed in the country’s ongoing Gaza campaign, despite being able to provide alleged figures for how many Hamas terrorists it has killed.

Morgan’s interview with Hyman on Tuesday’s Piers Morgan Uncensored began with discussion around the Israeli military’s operation in Rafah. The host began expressing concern about the advance into Rafah, a refugee camp where 1.2 million Gazans are currently sheltering – including around 600,000 children.

Morgan said that given Israel has “pretty much destroyed most of northern Gaza” and “killed up to 40,000 people, depending on whether you accept the Hamas-run health authority numbers.”

The host asked: “How many could die before Israel says, ‘we can’t continue this operation?’”

Hyman replied, asserting that the mission was to destroy Hamas, a “genocidal terror organization” intent on repeating its October 7th terror attack on Israel, and that Israel’s aim was “to avoid civilian casualties” which was “something that we have successfully done.”

To argue the success of the campaign to date, he added: “Out of that Hamas number that you just gave, more than 14,000 are terrorists that we took out. There’s more than 25,000 Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists taken off the map.”

Morgan replied: “So how many civilians do you believe you’ve killed?”

Hyman said: “We don’t have exact figures. As you know, it’s the fog of war…”

“But you’ve got exact numbers for Hamas terrorists you’ve killed. Why wouldn’t you know how many civilians you’ve killed?” the host interjected.

Hyman began: “Because obviously our focus is to go after the Hamas terrorists and…”

Morgan cut in, again: “Hang on, that does imply that you’re putting a bigger premium on killing Hamas terrorists in terms of numbers and accountability than you are on innocent civilians. That can’t be right, surely. If you know exactly how many Hamas terrorists you’ve killed, you must know how many civilians you’ve killed. Otherwise, you’re prioritising the lives of terrorists over innocent people.”

The Israeli spokesman refuted that he’d given an exact figure of Hamas members killed and claimed that figures given by the Gaza’s Ministry of Health, an organisation affiliated with the local Hamas government, were “precise” but which Israel “reject as being false.”

Morgan pressed further: “Well, if they’re false, why would you give me those?”

The guest replied: “I gave you the numbers that I had.”

Morgan asked: “You told me you know how many Hamas terrorists you’ve killed, but you don’t have any idea how many civilians you’ve killed. I’m just bemused. Why wouldn’t you keep count of both?”

Hyman said: “I don’t have that information to give you, Piers. If I did, I would.”

“You have literally no idea how many civilians you’ve been killing?” the host repeated.

“I can tell you definitively that our aim is to go after Hamas,” the spokesman said.

Morgan said: “Hang on. I’m sorry to push you on this. That’s quite extraordinary. You’re an official spokesman for the Israeli government, and you have no idea how many civilians you’ve killed. I thought you just told me that you were particularly careful about not killing civilians. But if you don’t know how many you’ve killed, how can you say that with any certainty?”

“Because even if you were to go by a ratio of the Hamas figures, we would still be far ahead of any Western army,” Hyman responded.

“That wasn’t my question. You know it wasn’t my question,” Morgan protested.

“I don’t have the information,” the guest repeated.

“You literally have no idea how many civilians you’ve killed,” Morgan said.

“It’s not that I don’t know. I’m not authorised to give the information. I don’t have the information,” Hyman said.

Morgan, however, continued to point out that the quality of Israel’s record in avoiding civilian casualties could not be verified if no data on civilian deaths was available: “You want me to believe you’re being incredibly careful about how many civilians you’re killing and you have an amazing exemplary record, but you don’t know how many civilians you’re killing.”

Pushing back, the Israeli spokesman repeated that he did not have the information and couldn’t provide it no matter how many times the journalist asked.

After continuing to pursue the line of questioning Hyman eventually fell silent, looking into the camera and refusing to address the question.

Continuing to press the spokesman eventually repeated his position: “Piers, we’re in the fog of war. We’re fighting for our very existence…”

Morgan replied: “No, you’re not foggy when it comes to killing terrorists. You’re only foggy, it seems to me, when it comes to killing civilians.”

Hyman continued, stressing the difficulty of assessing numbers given the nature of the operation: “I don’t know if there’s a comparison of any war in modern history in which a terrorist organisation has embedded itself the way that Hamas has in Gaza. We are doing our very utmost to go after Hamas. And like I said, when the dust settles, you will see that.”

It was at this stage that Morgan thanked the representative and ended the interview.

Watch above on Piers Morgan Uncensored.