The death toll from Israeli bombardment in Gaza may be “even higher than the stated figure” of more than 10,800 victims. This was stated by Barbara Leaf, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs at the US State Department, during a hearing in the House Foreign Affairs Committee. According to the New York Times. Words that somewhat subvert the statements of President Joe Biden, who expressed doubts about the number of Palestinian deaths announced by the Ministry of Health of the Strip on October 26.
Biden’s doubts matched those of Israeli officials who said the figures were inflated. A statement not shared by the United Nations and various humanitarian organizations, but which consider the data published by Palestinians to be reliable. “We have no indication that they are lies,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters in response to a question about Biden’s remarks. Dujarric added that the UN “cannot confirm these figures with certainty”, but that the figures released by the Palestinians are “a pretty good indication of what’s going on”, thanks to the presence of hundreds of United Nations officials in health centers and shelters. The World Health Organization agrees: “The numbers may not be accurate minute by minute, but they largely reflect the level of deaths and injuries in Gaza,” said Michael Ryan of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme.
The main reason why the Palestinian Ministry of Health’s estimates of deaths in the Strip are controversial is that the ministry is controlled by Hamas. This, he is writing However, this does not mean that the operation of the AP agency is in the hands of the terrorist organization. “The Palestinian Authority, which controlled Gaza before Hamas invaded the region in 2007, retains power over health and education services in Gaza despite being located in the occupied West Bank. The ministry said it was responsible for recent Hamas recruits and “It consists of a mix of senior public officials affiliated with the government. Officials say they are aligned with the secular nationalist Fatah party.” There is a parallel ministry in the West Bank that continues to work in close contact with the ministry in Gaza and has made it clear that it trusts the work of its colleagues in the Strip. Ahmed al-Kahlot, director of Kamal Adwan hospital in the northern Strip, said “Hamas is one of the groups within Gaza’s health system” but “some of us are aligned with Fatah, others are independent.” “We are medical professionals first and foremost,” he added.
It is the Red Crescent (the Red Cross of the Arab countries) and the hospitals that provide the ministry with the data on deaths and injuries entered in the database. On 27 October, in response to US skepticism about the figures, the ministry released a 212-page report listing all Palestinians killed in the war to date, including their names, identification numbers, ages and genders.
The war between Israel and Hamas is live
It is impossible to verify its accuracy, but a look at the same ministry’s communications during previous conflicts reveals that the estimates of Gaza health authorities were only slightly higher than those of the UN and Israel.
Source: Today IT
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
