The UN reports the number of deaths in Gaza hasn't altered despite a commotion over modified information.
In a recent report, the United Nations' humanitarian agency, OCHA (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs), clarified its earlier findings on the number of Palestinian casualties in the ongoing war. The agency provided revised data on May 8th, which significantly reduced the number of women and children believed to have been killed.
This update came about because OCHA is now relying on the number of women and children whose names and identifying details have been thoroughly documented, rather than the overall count of such individuals. The UN spokesperson, Farhan Haq, explained that this difference results from counting only the bodies that arrive at hospitals.
During a daily briefing at the UN, Haq divulged that the Gaza health ministry recently published both an overall death toll and a separate count of fatalities with fully documented identities. However, the UN report only published the latter, leading to confusion. According to Haq, 24,686 deaths have been accurately identified out of the total 34,622 casualties documented in Gaza by April 30th. The breakdown of these deaths includes 7,797 children, 4,959 women, 1,924 elderly individuals, and 10,006 men. Moreover, the Gaza health ministry is still working on identifying the remaining casualties' details.
Two officials from the Palestinian Ministry of Health revealed to CNN that they maintain separate records for identified and unidentified individuals, but the overall death toll remains unchanged. They also added that approximately 10,000 people are still missing and trapped under the rubble, further contributing to the crisis in the region.
Israel initiated its military campaign against Gaza on October 7th, following attacks by the militant group Hamas, which governs Gaza, resulting in the deaths of at least 1,200 people in Israel and the abduction of more than 250 others. The subsequent siege by Israel has devastated large parts of the Palestinian territory, posing a risk of famine for the region's 2.2 million residents.
CNN has obtained a daily report from the Palestinian health ministry that aligns with the revised version from OCHA. The Gaza health ministry's figures show a total of 15,103 children and 9,961 women killed since the conflict began on October 7th. Previously, both UN and US officials had deemed the figures coming from the Ministry of Health in Gaza as credible.
CNN cannot independently verify the accuracy of the ministry's numbers. The official death count does not differentiate between casualties among combatants and civilians.
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The revision in the UN's data on Palestinian casualties in Gaza has sparked discussions in the global community, as many organizations and world leaders rely on such data for their humanitarian responses. Despite this update, the ongoing conflict in the Middle East continues to pose significant challenges to the world, including the risk of famine for Gaza's 2.2 million residents.
Source: edition.cnn.com
