(UnitedVoice.com) – There’s no denying that Israel has killed a lot of civilians in its war against Hamas. Since the beginning, experts have questioned the number of dead being released by the Gaza Health Ministry because Hamas runs it. Now, the United Nations has slashed the casualty count in half for women and children.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has revised the number of Palestinian casualties. On May 6, the organization released its updated count of casualties in the conflict. According to the numbers, 34,735 Palestinians have died in the war, including approximately 9,500 women and 14,500 children.
Two days later, on May 8, OCHA revised those numbers. The total number of Palestinians killed was still at 34,000, but the number of women was reduced to 4,959 and kids to 7,797. That’s about a 50% difference in the number of dead women and children.
Reuters reported that Farhan Haq, a UN spokesperson, discussed the change in casualties after Israel criticized the international body. He said that only 24,686 of the bodies recovered in Gaza have been “fully identified.” He explained the “process of fully identifying details of the casualties is ongoing.”
Oren Marmorstein, a spokesperson for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, accused the UN of “parroting” propaganda fed to them by Hamas. He said the verification process is flawed.
Critics have repeatedly accused Israel of carrying out a genocide against the Palestinian people because the casualty count for women and children was significantly higher than that of men. The Israeli government has long maintained the numbers were incorrect. Further, the country has accused Hamas terrorists of hiding among vulnerable populations and using them as human shields. The number of civilian casualties is still extremely high, but the Israeli government has made it clear they will continue fighting until their hostages are home and Hamas has been eradicated.
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