US President Joe Biden last month questioned the fatality data released by the health ministry in Gaza. He said innocent people were being killed and it was a price of waging a war, but raised doubts about the death count. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the health ministry in Gaza is just a Hamas front. “We can’t take anything coming out of Hamas, including the so-called Ministry of Health, at face value.”
So, can we accept the 10,000+, and counting, death count in the narrow geographical stretch bordering Israel and Egypt? According to the Gaza Health Ministry data, 10,328 people have been killed so far in an Israeli counter-offensive in the Gaza Strip. It includes 4,237 children, 2,719 women and 631 elderly people. That accounts for 73% of the total death toll.
With around 26,000 injured, the Health Ministry says the Israeli counter-offensive kills one child and injures two children every 10 minutes.
When Israel and the US question the death and injury count data released by the Gaza Health Ministry as Hamas propaganda, it cannot be ruled out. Hamas, de facto, rules the Gaza territory.
Declared as a terrorist group by many Western countries, including the US, Hamas has drawn parallels to ISIS in terror tactics and violence. The bloodbath that it caused on October 7 in Israel’s border areas, killing over 1400, mostly civilians, and taking captive over 240 civilians, including foreigners, reflects that. Any propaganda in its favour, when most Islamic countries see it as a religious group fighting for Palestine’s liberation, is going to further its terror tentacles, and a mounting civilian casualty figure day after day in an Israeli counter-offensive supported by the US would fit in perfectly.
The Gaza health ministry’s report of 500 deaths at Gaza City’s Al Ahli hospital does question its credibility as US intelligence put the number of dead between 100 to 300. The Health Ministry later lowered the number to 471. The ministry and Hamas blamed Israel for it. Israel and the US blamed Palestinian militants saying their rocket for Israel misfired and fell into the hospital.
In response to Biden’s doubts, the Gaza health ministry released a 212-page list of fatalities in Gaza in the ongoing conflict with names, gender, and age. Like any other hospital anywhere, all the Gaza-based hospitals are computerised and digitally connected with Gaza health ministry. Details of injured and dead are recorded and are shared with the ministry which releases the cumulative final counts.
Several multilateral agencies like the UN, many countries, and many journalists go by the data released by the Gaza health ministry. UNICEF spokesperson James Elder defends the data released by it on the Gaza death count based on past similarities. Elder says the UNICEF’s and Gaza health ministry’s numbers are almost identical when scrutinised in past conflicts between Israel and Hamas. He adds that UNICEF is very precise with numbers and has a reputation for it as its count is based on evidence.
According to WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier, on average, 160 children are dying each day in Gaza, adding that the organization went with the data given by the health ministry in Gaza.
The UN agencies warn of women and newborns bearing the brunt of the ongoing conflict in Gaza and reports by many of its sub-agencies quote the fatality figures given by the Gaza health ministry in its reports and assessments.
A report by the Associated Press updated on Tuesday shows how the data released by the UN and the Gaza health ministry on fatalities in the past three conflicts have been almost identical. During the 2008 Israel-Hamas conflict, the UN reported 1,385 deaths. Gaza health ministry’s number was 1,440. The 2014 war saw 2,251 Palestinians killed as per the UN. The Gaza Health Ministry said 2,310 Palestinians were killed. The UN data post the 2021 war was 256 fatalities while 260 was the number released by the Gaza Health Ministry.
The AP report says the data released by the Gaza health ministry even tallied with Israel’s tallies in past conflicts.
The Gaza health ministry, though under Hamas control, is also dependent on the Palestinian health ministry, based in Ramallah, West Bank. Its staff is a mix of Fatah party and Hamas recruits. Fatah party runs the Palestinian Authority (PA) led by President Mahmoud Abbas. The Gaza-based health ministry receives medical equipment, medicinal support, and salary contributions from the Palestinian health ministry.
On paper, the PA rules both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, but Hamas fought a war with the Fatah party in 2007, won, and declared that Gaza Strip was a Hamas territory.
The PA and people in the Gaza Strip and West Bank depend on international support, for food or medical related, and any such support is routed through the PA, and aid agencies like the UNRWA and Red Cross only and not through Hamas. The West Bank-based health ministry says it trusts the data released by the Gaza-based health ministry.
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