From the Liveblog of
Monday, May 13, 2024
UN spokesman defends reduction of Gaza death toll: Figures ‘can vary based on Hamas verification process’
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
A United Nations spokesman defends a recent revision to the death toll breakdown cited the organization’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which reduced by almost half the number of women and children it had previously said were killed during the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Farhan Aziz Haq, a spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, tells Fox News Digital that the figures were based on data provided by the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, and that the breakdowns “can vary based on their own verification process that they undertake.”
“The United Nations teams on the ground in Gaza are unable to independently verify those figures, given the prevailing situation on the ground and the sheer volume of fatalities,” the spokesman adds.
An infographic issued by OCHA on Wednesday placed 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 an infographic released two days earlier, the broader death toll was 34,735 with over 14,500 (42%) of them being children and over 9,500 (27%) women.
The Fox report notes that the UN uses the unverified death tolls “to formulate its policies and agenda.”
Israeli officials say that an estimated 15,000 terror operatives have been killed in Gaza amid the war.
The Times of Israel Community.