Hamas ‘quietly drops’ thousands of deaths from casualty figures

New probe shows that Hamas has softly dropped thousands of deaths from its Gaza warfare casualty figures.

Salo Aizenberg, from the US-based non-profit organisation Honest Reporting, said that Hamas’s March 2025 casualty update had removed thousands of radical it antecedently listed arsenic having been killed past year.

“Hamas’s caller March 2025 fatality database softly drops 3,400 afloat “identified” deaths listed successful its August and October 2024 reports—including 1,080 children. These “deaths” ne'er happened. The numbers were falsified—again,” Mr Aizenberg wrote.

The casualty lists are released arsenic PDFs by the Hamas-run Gaza ministry of health, which has been cited by planetary media arsenic a root for fatality figures successful the enclave since the commencement of the war.

A study by the Henry Jackson Society successful December said that the fig of civilians killed successful the Gaza struggle had astir apt been inflated by Hamas successful bid to represent Israel arsenic deliberately targeting guiltless people.

Andrew Fox, the writer of the report, said the latest deletions are apt to person been an effort by Hamas to clasp credibility.

“We knew determination were rafts of errors successful their reporting,” Mr Fox said. “There’s a tenable mentation successful that their machine systems went down successful November 2023, truthful it’s been challenging for them to study accurately, but the lists are truthful unreliable that the world’s media shouldn’t beryllium quoting them arsenic reliable.”

He added: “The UN besides conscionable takes Hamas’s figures and publishes them with a enactment stating the figures are unconfirmed.”

The Hamas lists incorporate accusation specified arsenic names and ID numbers, and tin beryllium filled successful by anyone with a nexus to the Google signifier for the document.

Hamas volition “have gone done the list, trying to marque it arsenic convincing arsenic possible. They’ve been accepting names onto that database with nary grounds whatsoever,” explained Mr Fox. “So what I’m guessing they’re trying to bash is bladed retired the names they cannot substantiate astatine all.”

Mr Fox, a erstwhile British paratrooper who has worked with Mr Aizenberg connected erstwhile research, said the teams usage the publically disposable Hamas information and transverse cheque it sanction by name.

“Salo’s probe would beryllium looking for names that were connected erstwhile lists but person present disappeared,” Mr Fox explained. “Hamas releases lists arsenic PDFs truthful it’s harder to bash comparisons but we transportation names to an excel expanse to bash a wide examination this way.”

About 72 per cent of fatalities aged 13-55 are men, which is the unsmooth property scope of Hamas combatants, Mr Fox said. “We cognize that Hamas uses kid soldiers and these statistic amusement intelligibly that Israel is targeting fighting-aged men.”

In erstwhile conflicts, Hamas figures person often been corroborated by outer organisations, Mr Fox said.

The Henry Jackson Society’s December study said: “The ministry of health, operating nether Hamas, has systematically inflated the decease toll by failing to separate betwixt civilian and combatant deaths, over-reporting fatalities among women and children and adjacent including individuals who died earlier the struggle began.

“This has led to a communicative wherever the Israel Defense Forces are portrayed arsenic disproportionately targeting civilians, portion the existent numbers suggest a important proportionality of the dormant are combatants.”

Hamas has claimed the fig of deaths successful Gaza since the commencement of the warfare is present much than 50,000.

The IDF says it has killed 20,000 Hamas combatants during the fighting, and does each it tin to mitigate civilian casualties.

“The IDF makes large efforts to estimation and see imaginable civilian collateral harm successful its strikes. The IDF has never, and volition never, deliberately people children,” the IDF said successful a statement.

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