Study finds no evidence Gaza Health Ministry inflated Palestinian death toll
World
President Biden had expressed his doubts about the death toll
(Web Desk) - There is "no evidence" that the Gaza Ministry of Health has inflated the number of Palestinian deaths in the Israel-Hamas war, according to new research reported in the UK-based medical journal The Lancet.
While Israel's death toll counts of its citizens have generally been accepted in the US, skepticism has been expressed about numbers reported in Gaza, including by President Joe Biden.
Some 1,200 people were killed in the Hamas assault in Israel on Oct. 7, while more than 15,000 Palestinians have been reported killed in retaliatory attacks by Israel.
Notably, mortality data from the Gaza Ministry of Health has been "historically" accurate, researchers from the School of Public Health, the School of Humanitarian Health and the Department of Biostatistics at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore emphasized in a letter to The Lancet.
The State Department has in the past regularly cited ministry statistics.
Also, the researchers' study of Gaza Health Ministry data compared to separate mortality sourcing from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) turned up no evidence of inflated rates.
In fact, mortality rates examined from Oct. 7 to Nov. 10 out of Gaza tended to be lower than those of the UNRWA during the comparable time, researchers Benjamin Q. Huynh, Elizabeth T. Chine and Paul B. Spiegel determined in the findings released earlier this week.
The researchers emphasized the danger of "public skepticism of the current reports" by the Gaza Ministry of Health, which threatens to "undermine the efforts to reduce civilian harm and provide life-saving assistance."
Mortality reporting is "difficult to conduct in ongoing conflicts. Initial news reports might be imprecise, and subsequent verified reports might undercount deaths that are not recorded by hospitals or morgues, such as persons buried under rubble," they noted.
"However, difficulties obtaining accurate mortality figures should not be interpreted as intentionally misreported data," they added.
President Biden expressed his doubts about figures out of Gaza in late October.
“I have no notion that the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed," he said at the White House. "I’m sure innocents have been killed, and it’s the price of waging a war. … I have no confidence in the number that the Palestinians are using.”
He later met with members of the American Muslim community who were upset with his dismissive attitude about the death toll.
He apologized and said he was "disappointed in myself" over his reaction to the overwhelming numbers.
Study Finds ‘No Evidence’ Gaza Ministry of Health Inflated Palestinian Death Toll in War
'Public skepticism of the current reports by the Gaza MoH might undermine the efforts to reduce civilian harm and provide life-saving assistance,' warned researchers
There is "no evidence" that the Gaza Ministry of Health has inflated the number of Palestinian deaths in the Israel-Hamas war, according to new research reported in the UK-based medical journal The Lancet.
While Israel's death toll counts of its citizens have generally been accepted in the U.S., skepticism has been expressed about numbers reported in Gaza, including by President Joe Biden.
