TEL AVIV.- It is estimated that more than 33,000 people have died in Gaza, of which 72 percent are women and children, but these figures are rejected by Israel, questioning that these numbers are offered by the Ministry of Health in Gaza , controlled by Hamas.
The reports, however, are validated by several offices of the United Nations (UN), including the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which Benjamin Netanyahu’s government accuses of “relying” on the reports of a terrorist organization.
“The source of these figures is the same terrorist organization that on October 7 raped, kidnapped, tortured, murdered, mutilated Israeli civilians, I think that the crime of lying should not be much of a problem for them,” said Gabriel Chocron, IDF spokesperson. and founder of Conexión Israel, in an interview in Tel Aviv. “So this figure should not be taken as reality without being able to have the context of that information.”
In a new effort to discredit the figures, Israel cites an analysis by the Washington Institute, which questions the methodologies in the death reports, at the same time that the International Court of Justice (ICJ, in English) continues a process against Israel for alleged genocide against Palestinians due, in part, to the number of civilian deaths in the counteroffensive against Hamas.
Major Roni Kaplan, spokesperson for the IDF, indicated that the Washington Institute report, carried out by Gabriel Epstein, reveals problems in the methodology for counting deaths, which is carried out with the reports of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, as well as the estimated of media.
That would mean that of the “real” dead civilians that Israel could recognize so far, at least 13,000 are identified – without specifying that identification methodology – as terrorists, which leaves 10,000 civilians dead.
“In the first month of the war, the Hamas-controlled Gaza Ministry of Health relied on its existing collection system, composed mainly of hospitals and morgues, to certify each death,” says the report published on March 24. “However, in early November, hospitals in northern Gaza began to close or evacuate during the Israeli ground invasion, prompting the Health Ministry to introduce a new, undefined methodology for counting deaths: media reports ”.
Epstein questioned this methodology, applied in the last four months of the six months of the armed conflict.
“This methodology, which the Ministry of Health has rarely acknowledged publicly, accounts for the majority of deaths reported in the past four months, surpassing the traditional collection system,” Epstein’s report says.
US maintains pressure over civilian deaths
Despite Israel’s efforts to reject the more than 33,000 deaths, the United States government has so far not supported that narrative, although it has stopped citing specific figures to focus on a call to allow humanitarian aid in Gaza.
“Hamas’ horrific attacks on Israel on October 7 last year and the devastating loss of civilian life in Gaza […] “They have raised deeply worrying concerns regarding human rights,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken this Thursday when speaking about the report on the defense of human rights 2023.
The official said the priority in Gaza is to “end the fighting,” but also “guarantee the release of the hostages,” as well as “respect international humanitarian law.”
Regarding the civilian deaths, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller made it clear that the Israeli government should be respecting international law, as revealed in an exchange with a journalist at this Thursday’s press conference in Washington, DC.
Journalist: “Even you can’t attack civilians, even if you have a terrorist organization embedded in hospitals and schools.”
Miller: “Of course not”.
Journalist: “Legally speaking…”
Miller: “That’s what I mean. That’s what I mean…”
Journalist: “That is – yes – a war crime.”
Miller: “…That does not change the standard to which Israel must be held. Absolutely”.
Despite the questions about civilian deaths, for Middle East expert journalist Henrique Cymerman, Hamas figures should not be believed.
“What I recommend to you as a journalist and as someone who knows Hamas […] do not take what Hamas says as something […] As they say in Spain, he gives mass,” he said during a conference with journalists in Tel Aviv last Sunday. “Israel will never deceive you with the numbers, because it would lose its credibility for the future, you would never believe them again.” […] it’s a state”.
However, Israel’s own Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has acknowledged civilian death figures close to those circulating, mentioning to Republican senators that 28,000 people have died in Gaza, as revealed by Senator Josh Hawley (Missouri) to The New York Times.
Will the numbers of civilian deaths be adjusted?
Cymerman even cites the Washington Institute’s analysis, although the report has not been recognized as official by the United Nations or any other authority.
Israel appears to reorient the narrative regarding the dead, noting that it is something that will be talked about “in due course,” seeking to maintain focus on the counteroffensive against Hamas.
For spokesman Kaplan “that time will come,” considering that the priority is to free the hostages and put an end to Hamas.
Even Cymerman follows that line of thinking from the Israeli government.
“The time for figures will come,” he considered. “[Aunque] that every child […] “That every woman, that every person who has nothing to do with it, pays for it is tragic.”