From the Liveblog of
Friday, May 10, 2024
Hamas-cited UN infographics show 17% drop in total women, children Gaza war deaths within 2 days
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has released an infographic suggesting that the number of Gaza women and children killed in the Israel-Hamas war dropped by 17 percent in the last two days.
The infographic issued on Wednesday places the total broader Gaza war toll at 34,844 with 7,797 (32%) of the casualties being children and 4,959 (20%) of them being women. In the previous infographic released by OCHA two days earlier, the broader death toll was 34,735 with over 9,500 (27%) of them being women and over 14,500 (42%) being children.
That would suggest that the number of women and children killed dropped from 69% to 52% in just two days.
Both infographics include a disclaimer saying the UN hasn’t been able to produce independent, verified casualty figures and instead relies on the Hamas’s health ministry and media office in Gaza.
The Hamas death tolls don’t differentiate between civilians and combatants and include at least 15,000 Hamas gunmen Israel says it has killed in battle. Israel also says it killed some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
The massive drop in women and children casualties, particularly over such a short period of time, further calls into question the death tolls coming out of Gaza.
UN officials regularly cite the Gaza health ministry’s death toll, asserting that the vast majority of Palestinians killed in Gaza have been women and children. However, there have been allegations that Hamas undercounts male casualties.
