Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war following the October 7 massacre, a concurrent struggle over the accuracy of death toll figures from Gaza has also been fought.
In December, our analysis of civilian casualty figures reported by Hamas, which are published daily by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), indicated discrepancies. Our findings suggest that the reported numbers, particularly those of women and children compared to men and combatants, are significantly exaggerated.
Therefore, it was interesting to read a May 9 OCHA update that significantly altered the portrayal of casualty figures, with the UN effectively conceding the untrustworthiness of Hamas figures. These figures, however, continued to be parroted by various media outlets.
Hamas as Source
The claim that the vast majority of casualties (approximately 70%) are women and children has been reported widely by the international media, which cite the Gaza Health Ministry as their source while frequently failing to mention that it’s run by Hamas.
This week, as Hamas reported that the death toll in Gaza is nearing 35,000 people, news outlets once again cited this figure in stories, while adding that most of those killed were women and children.
The UK’s Daily Mirror, for example, reported that since October 7, “around 35,000 people have been massacred in Palestine, with 70% of them being women and children.”
Aside from the grossly inflammatory use of the word “massacred” in a news story (which the Mirror later amended as per our request), the inaccurate 70% statistic also implies a trigger-happy Israeli military that is cavalier about Palestinian civilian deaths.
✅ In response to our request, @DailyMirror has amended the story, accurately stating that Palestinians have been “killed,” not “massacred,” and removing the erroneous casualty figures. https://t.co/niahMm52I4
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) May 12, 2024
Similarly, in a May 12 piece about anti-Israel campus protests, the UK’s Independent reported that the “war has killed nearly 35,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants.”
Reuters published a piece on May 13 that described how Israel’s “bombardment” of the Strip had “laid waste to the coastal enclave and caused a deep humanitarian crisis,” adding that the death toll has now surpassed “35,000 Palestinians.”
The Washington Post reported on May 10 that nearly 35,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, “which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says the majority of the dead are women and children.” The article also noted that Israel has reported 13,000 “fighters” killed but has “not provided supporting evidence” for this claim, a striking reminder of the selective scrutiny applied by the media.
Meanwhile, NBC News included the context-free statement in a May 12 piece that “Gaza’s health ministry said Sunday more than 35,000 people had been killed since Oct. 7, most of them women and children.”
The United Nations Revises the Stats
As mentioned, the UN publishes the Gaza Health Ministry’s casualty figures on OCHA’s website, presumably where most journalists get their figures.
But somehow they ignored the May 9 OCHA update which should have made headlines: For the first time, only casualties who have been positively identified are included in the figures, which significantly revised down the death toll for women and children. The additional deaths reported by Hamas are now vaguely classified as “missing” or “under rubble” — a claim that OCHA now specifically attributes to the “Government Media Office” in Gaza, not its health authorities.
Despite these revisions being available on OCHA’s website for days, the international media has blithely continued to regurgitate erroneous statistics in countless articles.
🧵Major change in Gaza fatality report by UN: They now publish only identified fatalities admitting large number are made up by Hamas. Women & children half the “14,000 kids” killed often claim. Now 24,700 fatalities identified and >14,000 are combatants according to IDF. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/MVj5HY2qo7
— Aizenberg (@Aizenberg55) May 10, 2024
This blatant disregard for accuracy in reporting serves as a stark indictment of the media’s purported commitment to the truth during this Israel-Hamas war.
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