Yossi schwartz ISL (RCIT section in Israel/occupied Palestine), 18.05.2024
While Israel’s mass media keeps lying about the number of civilians it has killed, of the aid trucks it allowed to enter Gaza, the function of the hospitals it has destroyed, the reason it attacks ambulances and UN cars, and other lies, it attempts to prove that the Gazan Health Ministry is deceitful about the number of civilians killed by Israel which according to Israel is much lower than the number claimed by the Health Ministry of Gaza.
“A May 13 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) claims the United Nations’ reporting of Palestinians killed during the war in the Gaza Strip. The UN admits they’ve been lying about deaths in GAZA – they’ve been more than DOUBLING the number to make Israel look bad!” the post reads. Other social media users claimed the U.N. acknowledged sharing inaccurate numbers without saying it was intentional.”[i]
“The United Nations has cut in half the number of women and children killed since October 7 . The organization admitted that it relied on data from the Palestinian Ministry of Health, which is run by Hamas in Gaza • According to a published report, about 4,959 women and 7,797 children have been killed so far in the war, not 9,500 and 14,500, respectively.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs updated the data it presented so far regarding the number of civilians killed in Gaza. It claimed that about 50% fewer women and children were dead compared to what was previously reported. According to a report published by the office on May 6, the number of women killed in the fighting was supposed to be 9,500. The organization admits that it relied on data from the Palestinian Ministry of Health, which is run by Hamas in Gaza, even claiming that 14,500 children have been killed since the beginning of the war on October 7.
In a report published two days later, the UN cut the figures almost in half. According to the UN report published on 8.5, approximately 4,959 women and 7,797 children have been killed so far in the war”.[ii]
However, various newspapers around the world contradict the misinformation circulated by Israel. The British Guardian wrote: “UN denies Gaza death toll of women and children has been revised down. Spokesperson says confusion results from Gaza health ministry’s new way of classifying those not yet fully identified. The UN has denied that the estimated death toll of women and children in the war in Gaza has been revised downward, pointing towards confusion between the total number of dead bodies recorded and the number of those who have so far been fully identified. After the Gaza health ministry’s revised totals of those killed first appeared on the website of the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha), they were quickly seized on as proof by pro-Israel media and commentators that the UN had previously been exaggerating the toll.They showed 24,686 dead, which appeared to be a downward revision from the figure of about 35,000 which had been reported earlier in May, with 7,797 children and 4,959 women confirmed dead, about half the toll cited in previous reports. But the UN said on Monday that the estimated overall death toll remained about 35,000. Farhan Haq, a UN spokesperson, said the smaller numbers reflected those bodies that had been fully identified. The bigger figures included corpses for whom identification has not been completed. Haq said it was expected that, as the process of identification continued, the official tolls among women and children would also rise.”[iii]
The USA Today wrote:
“The U.N. has reported more than 35,000 people dead in Gaza since the latest round of fighting began in the territory in October. The U.N. sources data on the number of people killed in the current conflict from the territory’s government, which has led some to question the death toll’s accuracy. Gaza has been led since 2007 by Hamas, whose Oct. 7 attack on Israel prompted the ongoing invasion of the strip. Israel’s government has expressed doubts about the reported number of fatalities, particularly the counts of women and children killed. Those counts are frequently cited as an indicator of civilian deaths. The numbers dispute heightened on May 8 when the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs began listing “identified” dead as a subset of “reported” dead. Its May 6 report said 34,735 Palestinians, including about 9,500 women and about 14,500 children, had been killed in Gaza since the war began. The May 8 report said there were 34,844 total reported fatalities, adding that 24,686 were “identified” as of April 30, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. That report also placed the number of women and children killed who had been identified at 4,959 and 7,797, respectively. Those figures included only those that had been identified so far.”[iv]
According to NBC, Israeli officials claim that the number of Palestinians killed is much lower than the number published by the Gazan Ministry of Health.
“Israeli officials incorrectly suggested that the data showed a significant drop in death toll numbers — and that this bolstered their claims that health authorities in the Hamas-run enclave inflate the number of children and women among the dead to disguise the large number of militant fighters killed.”[v]
Israel not only kill civilian Palestinians but lies on the number it killed!
Down with the Zionist monster!
For Palestine red and free from the river to the sea!
Endnotes:
[i] Yahoo News mc42O3eHttmoi8nQMgXI2CXtnxegtM5XkvDtorjSCd1zQhwLXs5Em3TWYSvkBpklqJVWddSeTZp5Xk0H0U7T
[ii]https://rotter.net/forum/scoops1/848655.shtml
[iii] https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/13/gaza-ministry-revises-figures-for-women-and-children-killed
[iv] https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2024/05/17/un-death-toll-change-gaza-fact-check/73737102007/
[v] https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/gaza-death-toll-ocha-un-confusion-anger-rcna151934