The sources said that Israel's decision to contact lower-level Palestinian fighters and activists before killing them "does not mean that the occupation is showing mercy toward Palestinians or attempting to improve its image before the world."

They emphasized that many Israeli bombardments continue to kill civilians, including women and children.

Haaretz reported in September that Israel is killing fewer civilians in Gaza due to pressure from the US to avoid collateral damage and to preserve larger bombs dropped by warplanes for attacks on Iran and Lebanon.

As a result, Israel has increasingly used smaller munitions launched from drones.

According to the Israeli paper, this is the reason for the relative decline in civilian deaths from Israeli airstrikes in recent months. Recently, the ratio has been approximately 0.6 civilians killed for every resistance fighter killed, Haaretz claimed.

One source speaking to Asharq al-Awsat disputed the reports, calling them inaccurate.

The source emphasized that recent Israeli airstrikes had killed civilians during attempts to assassinate individuals, while other civilians had been killed as a result of continued indiscriminate bombardment.