Palestinians attend a funeral in Gaza City Photo: Khalil Hamra/AP
Israel called on the West to treat Hamas death tolls more with caution, after the UN began to give dramatically lower figures for the number of women and children killed.
Until May 8, the UN cited the Hamas-ruled Gaza government's press office with the latest death toll before that. 35,000, including 9,500 women and 14,500 children.
But that day the UN moved to provide information from the Gaza Ministry of Health, also run by Hamas, which fully identified 25,000 dead, including 4 959 women and 7,797 children.
The new figure is about half the previous total of women and children killed.
The Department of Health said it had the bodies of another 10,000 people, but was unable to obtain information that met the identification standard, which includes full names and official identification numbers.
A U.N. official said the international body believes the total death toll remains around 35,000 but is awaiting further information on 10,000.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said that since October 7, the war in Gaza has killed 30,000 people, including 14,000 terrorists and 16,000 civilians.
Tal Heinrich, spokesman for the Gaza office – Netanyahu, told The Telegraph: “Hamas has a clear incentive to increase casualties and inflate numbers in an attempt to increase international pressure on Israel.”
“This has been proven. There is no doubt that Hamas Health Ministry data in the Gaza Strip are part of Hamas' false propaganda apparatus.
“Only recently, the UN significantly revised the number of women and children killed in the Gaza Strip and cut it by half.
Media and organizations should take any figures provided by Hamas with a grain of salt.”
On Friday, Martin Griffiths, the UN's humanitarian chief, defended the organization's tally. dead, saying they were difficult to find. accurate information in the combat zone.
He told the BBC: “I would like to remind everyone listening to this that Gaza is a war zone and the collection of data and statistics, while admirable and necessary, is secondary to actually delivering some help, and secondly, very difficult. in cases of insecurity and violence.
“So that's my first point: please be realistic about what is possible in the middle of what we see in the Gaza Strip.”
A Palestinian woman holds the bodies of people killed by Israeli shelling in the Gaza Strip. Photo: Saeed Khatib/AFP
Mr Griffiths added that he believed the UN was “very cautious with these numbers and I think it is wrong to blame an envoy who is trying to get the truth out of a very difficult situation.”
The reduction in the number of women and children killed, cited by the UN, has caused a storm of criticism within Israel.
The Foreign Office said: “It is interesting that [the UN] has not issued any press releases or statements, almost as if the cuts were a secret.
” They have recently had difficulty explaining why there was such a difference in the first place.
Israel Katz, the country's foreign minister, called on Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary-general, to resign.
On Tuesday, Christian Lindmeier, a WHO spokesman, said the casualty figures from Hamas may still be clarified. which are relied upon despite the non-compliance identified by the UN.
He said: “There is nothing wrong with the data, the total data [over 35,000] remains the same. The fact that we now have 25,000 identified people is a step forward.”
The death toll is expected to rise
The UN has said it expects the death toll of women and children to rise as how more identifying information will be found.
Death figures provided by Gaza's health ministry have proven accurate in previous rounds of fighting. However, they do not differentiate between civilians and Hamas members.
Meirav Eilon Shahar, Israel's ambassador and permanent representative to the UN and international organizations in Geneva, said on Twitter: “Seriously, WHO? “Is everything okay with the data” provided by the Hamas-run health ministry?
“What about the question: Hamas does not differentiate between civilians and terrorists! Not to mention relying on numbers from a terrorist organization.
“For months, the WHO and the UN have been constantly exchanging unverified information – disinformation, one might say.”
Although the UN has changed its assessment in the latest report, the Palestinian Red Crescent on Thursday issued a statement claiming that more than 15,000 children were killed in Gaza.
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