You might say that, but the proxies weren't so keen on saving their citizens' lives either. Bashar Assad killed 600'000 of his own citizens. Hamas uses hospitals and UN schools as their command centers. Hezbollah has underground tunnels under civilian infrastructure where their leaders hide. The Iranian government assists with and finances the bombing on Jewish people all over the world. I wouldn't start pointing fingers so soon.
1. Hamas, an Iranian proxy, attacked Israel on October 7th 2023. Until that time, the death toll in the 100 years of Israeli-Palestinian conflict was about 10k Israels to 40k Palestinians. It since became 12k Israelis to 110k Palestinians.
I don't think that proxy fulfilled its intention.
2. Hezbollah, another Iranian proxy, attacked Israel on October 8th in support of Hamas. The ensuing war killed about 4k Lebanese. That proxy, too, seems to have failed in its mission to reduce the death tol..
3. The Houthis, yet another Iranian proxy, attacked Israel in support of Gaza. Since then, Israeli counter attacks killed several hundreds in Yemen. Not good.
Now these proxies are heavily damaged, deprived of most strategic capabilities and the death toll in the ensuing battles dwarfed all of the past deaths in the Israeli-Arab conflict.