Washington, United States: The President of the United States, Joe Biden, has cast doubt over the figures by the Palestinian health authorities about the people who lost their lives amid the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
However, international humanitarian organizations, including the UN, have mentioned that the provided figures are broadly precise and historically reliable.
On Wednesday, President Biden stated that he is having “no confidence in the number that the Palestinians are using.” Further, he declined to comment on “why”.
This statement was rubbished by the Gazan health ministry, which shared a 212-page document containing the names and identities of as many as 7,000 Palestinians who reportedly lost their lives during the Israeli bombardments.
It is to be noted that the international groups and global media are unable to identify the credibility of the figures, but the reporters present at the spot have seen a large number of deaths. On the contrary, the United Nations and other international agencies have acclaimed that these casualty numbers by the Gaza health ministry can be broadly trusted.
According to the reports by Reuters, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) stated, “We continue to include their data in our reporting and it is clearly sourced.”
The statement by the Office further read, “It is nearly impossible at the moment to provide any UN verification on a day-to-day basis.”
The figures are reliable, says Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch, a New York-based organization, has outlined that the casualty figures released by the health ministry (of Gaza) are reliable. Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine Director at Human Rights Watch stated, “It’s worth noting that the numbers that are coming out since October 7th are generally consistent or within logic for the scale of killings one would expect, given the intensity of bombardment in such a densely populated area.”
He further told the news agency Reuters, “Those numbers are in line with what one might expect, given what we’re seeing on the ground through testimony, through satellite imagery and otherwise.”
WHO’s remark on the death toll
The Executive Director (ED) of Health Emergencies Programme of the World Health Organisation (WHO) – Dr Mike Ryan, outlined that the death numbers released by the health ministries of both countries “may not be perfectly accurate on a minute-to-minute basis, but they grossly reflect the level of death and injury on both sides of that conflict,” as per Reuters.
Highlighting how challenging it can be to count the number of people who have lost lives, a World Health Organization representative on Friday mentioned that it is reported that there may still be around 1,000 bodies hidden under the wreckage in Gaza, and these haven’t been counted in the death toll. The source of this information wasn’t mentioned.
It is to be noted that Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza, exercises full control over the import and export of information to and from the enclave, which is why the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank holds formal responsibility for the health ministry. Reportedly, the PA is headed by Fatah – the main Palestinian rival to Hamas. Fatah holds the responsibility for providing salaries and equipment to the hospitals in Gaza.
They count the number of people who are hurt or killed by getting information from hospitals, ambulances, and emergency services. They work together with the Red Crescent in Ramallah.
At first, they know the age, gender, and kind of injury of the victims, and they confirm their full names later. The numbers are first reported in Gaza and are later checked in Ramallah. Usually, the differences in the numbers are very small.
Israel hasn’t given its own estimate of how many people have died.