A new study published in the journal "The Lancet" concludes that the death toll from Israel's war against Hamas militants in Gaza is much higher than the official figures, reported by the Ministry of Health of this controlled territory. but from Hamas. VOA London correspondent Henry Ridgwell spoke with the co-author of this study.
A new study published in the prestigious journal "The Lancet" says that the number of victims of the war in Gaza is about 64 thousand, about 40% higher than the figures published by the Ministry of Health of the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by Hamas. .
The study shows that Gaza officials have reduced the number of deaths by more than 40 percent between October 7, 2023 and June 30, 2024, A2 reports.
"In reality, mortality may be higher if we also include those who died because they did not have access to health care, deaths from heart attacks or infectious diseases, deaths of pregnant women who could not have access to a doctor during birth", says Zeina Jamaluddine, co-author of the study in "The Lancet" magazine.
59% of the victims were women, children and the elderly, according to the report of "The Lancet" magazine, this figure is almost the same as other studies.
The latest study does not include the number of Hamas fighters among the dead.
The Israeli Embassy in London told Voice of America in a statement that "any information coming out of Gaza cannot be trusted, and The Lancet's history of bias against Israel cannot be ignored."
VOA is unable to verify the figures as Israel does not allow journalists into Gaza.
The researchers combined three sources: Gaza's Health Ministry, which is run by Hamas, an online survey of reported deaths and social media obituaries, says the study's co-author.
"It is important that within each list we do not have duplications, so we do not want to have the same person measured several times. Then we compared the lists", says Zeina Jamaluddine, co-author of the study in "The Lancet" magazine.
The same technique has been used to estimate deaths in other conflicts, says the study's co-author.
"It was used in Sudan and Yemen. It was also used in Kosovo and some of this evidence was used in the ICJ [International Court of Justice", says Zeina Jamaluddine, co-author of the study in the journal "The Lancet".
Israel launched the war against Hamas in Gaza after the militant group's attack on October 7, 2023, which killed more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
The United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union and others have designated Hamas as a terrorist organization./Voice of America (A2 Televizion)
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