https://arab.news/ncntp
- Haq said those figures were for identified bodies 鈥� 7,797 children, 4,959 women, 1,924 elderly, and 10,006 men 鈥� adding: 鈥淭he Ministry of Health says that the documentation process of fully identifying details of the casualties is ongoing鈥�
UNITED NATIONS/GENEVA: The death toll in the Gaza Strip from the Israel-Hamas war is still more than 35,000, but the enclave鈥檚 Ministry of Health has updated its breakdown of the fatalities, the United Nations said on Monday after Israel questioned a sudden change in numbers.
UN spokesperson Farhan Haq said the ministry鈥檚 figures 鈥� cited regularly by the UN its reporting on the seven-month-long conflict 鈥� now reflected a breakdown of the 24,686 deaths of 鈥減eople who have been fully identified.鈥�
鈥淭here鈥檚 about another 10,000 plus bodies who still have to be fully identified, and so then the details of those 鈥� which of those are children, which of those are women 鈥� that will be re-established once the full identification process is complete,鈥� Haq told reporters in New York.
Israel last week questioned why the figures for the deaths of women and children has suddenly halved.
Haq said those figures were for identified bodies 鈥� 7,797 children, 4,959 women, 1,924 elderly, and 10,006 men 鈥� adding: 鈥淭he Ministry of Health says that the documentation process of fully identifying details of the casualties is ongoing.鈥�
Oren Marmorstein, spokesperson for Israel鈥檚 Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on Monday accused Palestinian militants Hamas of manipulating the numbers, saying: 鈥淭hey are not accurate and they do not reflect the reality on the ground.鈥�
鈥淭he parroting of Hamas鈥� propaganda messages without the use of any verification process has proven time and again to be methodologically flawed and unprofessional,鈥� he said in a social media post.
Haq said UN teams in Gaza were not able to independently verify the Gaza Ministry of Health (MoH) figures given the ongoing war and sheer number of fatalities.
鈥淯nfortunately we have the sad experience of coordinating with the Ministry of Health on casualty figures every few years for large mass casualty incidents in Gaza, and in past times their figures have proven to be generally accurate,鈥� Haq said.
The World Health Organization 鈥渉as a long-standing cooperation with the MoH in Gaza and we can attest that MoH has good capacity in data collection/analysis and its previous reporting has been considered credible,鈥� said WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris.
鈥淩eal numbers could be even higher,鈥� she said.