The United Nations on Monday clarified that the overall
number of fatalities in Gaza tallied by the Ministry of
Health in Gaza remains unchanged, at more than 35,000,
since the war broke out between Israel and Hamas on
October 7.
The clarification comes after the UN humanitarian agency
OCHA (United Nations Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs) published a report on May 8 with
revised data regarding the number of Palestinian
casualties in the war. The UN agency in its report
reduced the number of women and children believed to
have been killed in the war by nearly half.
The number was reduced because the UN says it is now
relying on the number of deceased women and children
whose names and other identifying details have been
fully documented, rather than the total number of women
and children killed. The ministry says bodies that
arrive at hospitals get counted in the overall death
count.
UN spokesperson Farhan Haq told a daily briefing at the
UN that the health ministry in Gaza recently published
two separate death tolls – an overall death toll and a
total number of identified fatalities. In the UN report,
only the total number of fatalities whose identities
(such as name and date of birth) have been documented
was published, leading to confusion.
According to Haq, the ministry published a breakdown for
24,686 fully identified deaths out of the total 34,622
fatalities recorded in Gaza as of April 30. The fully
identified death toll comprises of 7,797 children, 4,959
women, 1,924 elderly, and 10,006 men, the UN
spokesperson said, citing the Gaza health ministry.
The health authority in Gaza noted that the
documentation process of casualties’ full identification
details is still ongoing, Haq added.
Two officials from the Palestinian Ministry of Health
have told CNN that although the ministry keeps a
separate death toll for identified and unidentified
individuals, the total number of people killed remains
unchanged.
The total number of dead also does not include the
approximately 10,000 people who are still missing and
trapped under the rubble, the officials added.
Israel launched its military assault on Gaza on October
7 after the militant group Hamas, which governs Gaza,
killed at least 1,200 people in Israel and abducted more
than 250 others. Israel’s months-long siege of the
Palestinian enclave has since pulverized large parts of
Gaza and drastically diminished critical supplies,
exposing the entire population of more than 2.2 million
people to the risk of famine.
CNN has seen a daily report from the Palestinian health
ministry which matches the number OCHA published in the
revised version. A total of 15,103 children and 9,961
women have been killed in Gaza since October 7, the Gaza
ministry of health said in its latest report.
Both the UN and US officials have previously appraised
the figures from the Ministry of Health in Gaza as
credible.
CNN cannot independently verify the ministry’s numbers.
The ministry does not distinguish between casualties
among fighters and civilians.
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