UN sharply revises stats on women, children deaths in Gaza | WORLD
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UN sharply revises stats on women, children deaths in Gaza

The UN agency depended on numbers from the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry


The UN’s Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has quietly revised the number of women and children who were supposed to have died during Israel’s ongoing war with Hamas terrorists. The UN has reduced nearly by half the number of women and children included in its total number of fatalities. The Jerusalem Post was the first to report on the differences between current and archived data.

What was the office previously reporting? WORLD obtained an OCHA infographic from May 1 that is archived online. It shows the total casualties at 34,568, with more than 9,500 being women and more than 14,500 being children.

What is the office currently reporting? As of Monday morning, the infographic on OCHA’s website, dated May 9, reported the total number of reported deaths in Gaza as having increased by a few hundred. However, it reports the number of women and children’s deaths is dramatically lower. The May 9 OCHA graphic reports fewer than 5,000 women have died and under 8,000 children.

Does the UN provide any explanation for the revised figures? The infographic does not mention the changes. A disclaimer at the bottom explains that the casualty numbers come from the Gaza Health Ministry and Government Media Office in Gaza, as well as the Israeli authorities. The UN has admitted it is unable to verify such figures. Last month, the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry wrote in a document posted to social media that it had incomplete data in its casualty figures, according to a translation. The agency also has not distinguished between civilians and militants in its casualty figures.

The Foundation for Defense of Democracies Director of Research David Adesnik called on OCHA to clarify the changes, saying the UN has seemingly recognized a lack of evidence behind Hamas’ original claims.

Doesn’t the Israeli military take steps to avoid civilian casualties? The Israel Defense posted an online description of the steps it takes to minimize the war’s effect on civilians. The IDF says it sends text messages and phone calls to civilians living in buildings it seeks to target, urging them to evacuate.

Dig deeper: Read A.S. Ibrahim’s column in WORLD Opinions about how there can be no real peace until Hamas is destroyed.


Travis K. Kircher

Travis is the associate breaking news editor for WORLD.


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MissyLane

In the 70’s I rode the Long Island Railroad into Manhattan five days a week. Just before the train headed under the East River, the sun would glisten on the UN building like a beacon. There is no light nor sun in the U.N. Not any more, if ever.

Guest

Israel should be commended for taking the steps they are taking to limit civilian casualties and provide humanitarian aid to non-combatants during an active war, which, by the way, no other country has done to this extent in the history of warfare.

KDON9307

“Aiding and abetting the enemy “ in whatever form makes you an enemy combatant. That includes women. Sadly, children are placed in that position against their will (some not against their will because they’ve been so indoctrinated they don’t know any difference) and Hamas could care less. They are just tools to achieve their goals.
Israel is in a very tough position and I commend them that, whatever the numbers are, they aren’t much higher. America has no right to point fingers and condemn after our record in the past.

Tom Hanrahan

It seems that some pieces of this are missing, and thus the overall story is misleading.

The "dramatically lower" update in deaths accounts for only a (majority) portion of all deaths, per the link below: in other words, fewer than 5000 women have died *among those deaths for which we have full details*; there are likely many more than that.. in fact, the previous numbers could be accurate.
If I am the one reading this incorrectly, please point this out, but let's not believe just what we *want* to believe without checking.

https://leadstories.com/hoax-alert/2024/05/fact-check-un-did-not-halve-its-estimate-of-women-and-children-killed-in-gaza.html#google_vignette

YnotNOWTom Hanrahan

story from Reuters appears to agree with your assessment. Asking World team to review and update story to avoid being misleading.

not silentTom Hanrahan

Thank you for pointing this out. I realize that it’s very hard to get accurate numbers-and, honestly, I really wish that we would discover that fewer women and children have died-but I think we should have access to the best available data.

RudyB

It would seem that this is a significant point, "The agency also has not distinguished between civilians and militants in its casualty figures."
Also there is a different semantic meaning between deaths and casualties. They are not equivalent.
For example, the infographic link is titled "Reported Casualties" and lists 34,568 "fatalities" and nearly 78,000 "injuries." All of these are casualties.

KDON9307

Surprise, surprise! That’s a small, quiet attempt at a bit of honesty.
You can probably half those figures again.