The Israeli military has disputed the death toll of Palestinians in Gaza, often dismissing figures provided by the Gazan Health Ministry, which is governed by Hamas, as propaganda. However, human rights organizations and the United Nations have consistently found the ministry’s numbers to be credible. Recent estimates from the ministry suggest that over 71,000 Palestinians have died since the conflict escalated, with a significant portion being civilians, including many women and children.
High-profile figures in the U.S. government, including President Biden and members of Congress, have previously expressed skepticism towards the Health Ministry’s figures, treating them with the same scrutiny as claims from terrorist organizations, which has undermined the credibility of the death toll. Activists criticize this attitude for enabling a form of genocide denial that avoids holding Israel accountable for its military actions.
Entities like the Anti-Defamation League, AIPAC, and various think tanks have framed the Health Ministry’s estimates as inflated and have suggested they are unreliable due to Hamas’s influence. Despite the burgeoning evidence validating the ministry’s statistics, doubts perpetuated by U.S. officials and pro-Israel organizations continue to cast a shadow over the reported numbers.
The article highlights the challenges faced by Palestinian official data in garnering international trust, largely due to the ongoing political narrative that casts doubt on its legitimacy. With media and NGOs restricted from accessing Gaza, the ministry remains the primary source of casualty figures. Advocates insist that understanding the full impact of the conflict on Palestinian lives necessitates accepting these death tolls as accurate.
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