JULY 15, 2025 – Yesterday, the Department of Defense submitted to Congress and released the Annual Report on Civilian Casualties in Connection with United States Military Operations in 2024.
The submission to Congress and public release of this report is in fulfillment of Section 1057 of the FY18 National Defense Appropriations Act, as amended, which requires the Department to complete an annual report on civilian casualties in connection with U.S. military operations in the previous year.
As required, the report lists each civilian casualty caused as the result of United States military operations by date, location, operation type (air or ground), and the number of civilians injured or killed.
It also lists the processes for assessing reports of civilian casualties, the processes for considering whether to offer ex gratia payments, and the steps that the U.S. takes to mitigate civilian casualties.
The report states that the DoD assessed that two U.S. military operations during 2024 resulted in civilian casualties.
Also, the report updates the number of civilian casualties assessed to have occurred in 2023, based on reports that were assessed after last year’s annual report.
The updates to the previously reported figures for 2023 increase the total numbers of civilian casualties by two additional civilians killed and one additional civilian injured.
The Annual Report on Civilian Casualties in Connection with U.S. Military Operations in 2024 can be found here.
This report primarily provides information about U.S. military operations in 2024. This report also contains updates to information DoD previously reported to the congressional defense committees pursuant to Section 1057.
Some of the information provided in prior reports about U.S. military operations in 2017-2022 has been repeated in this report because the information was relevant to U.S. military operations in 2024.
This report is publicly available at Defense.gov.
The U.S. military is steadfastly committed to limiting harm to civilians, and DoD has a strong record of compliance with the law of war. As a matter of policy, U.S. forces routinely conduct operations under policy standards that are more protective of civilians than required by the law of war, and we are committed to continuing to improve our approach.
This commitment is reflected in DoD’s consistent efforts to maintain and promote best practices that reduce the likelihood of civilian harm, take appropriate steps when harm occurs, and draw lessons from DoD operations to further enhance our ability to mitigate civilian harm. Section 2 of Executive Order 13732 catalogues certain best practices DoD has implemented to protect civilians during armed conflict and directs those measures be continued in present and future operations.
During 2024, all operations were conducted consistent with the best practices identified in Section 2 of Executive Order 13732.