The UN has denied that the estimated death toll of women and children in the war in Gaza has been revised downward, pointing towards a confusion between the total numbers of dead bodies recorded, and the number of those who have so far been fully identified.
After the Gaza health ministry’s revised totals of those killed first appeared on the website of the UN’s office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (Ocha), they were quickly seized on as proof by pro-Israel media and commentators that the UN had previously been exaggerating the toll.
They showed 24,686 dead which appeared to be a downward revision from the figure of about 35,000 which had been reported earlier in May, with 7,797 children and 4,959 women confirmed dead, about half the toll cited in previous reports. But the UN said on Monday that estimated overall death toll remained about 35,000.
Mods removed the original post due to the article being updated and/or the statistics being “debunked,” so I am reposting with the updated headline and article. If you wish to view the original you can find an archive.org link here.
I would also like to point out while the overall death toll is supposedly unchanged, the reported number of women and children killed absolutely is changed.
The original numbers suggest that 11,244 additional women and children were killed on top of those identified. If 100% of the unidentified remains were women and children, that would still put the death toll at 35,890, or ~890 more than the current numbers.
I believe the discrepancy being corrected in the report goes back to when the ministry started relying on “reliable media sources.” Since that time, they have reported unbelievably high percentages of women and children being killed (~86%).
In the article you link it states:
Where do you get 86% from?
We are talking bodys that are mutilated, often beyond recognition. So you find a male body in the age range of 14-20. Now do you count it as a child or as an adult? If you know it is Abdul Raheeem 17 years old, you can make that assessment. But otherwise you can only make a best guess. Problem is, if you only find half a body and it is decayed mostly. The most reliable way to distinguish male and female skeletons is the pelvis. For the other bones you have indications but they aren’t as definite. So if you find an upper body without the pelvis you again have to guess. And digging up mass graves or collecting body parts after a bombing is not exactly the environment for a in depths medical analysis
It’s math from the numbers in that article, which is admittedly a few months old at this point. At that time, according to the ministry 70% of 30,000 deaths (~21,000) were women and children.
For the 17,000 that hospital staff reported, 58% (~9,860) of the deaths were recorded as women and children. For the remaining 13,000 the ministry relied on “reliable media sources.”
For the overall percentage of women and children killed to be 70%, 11,140 of the remaining 13,000 reportedly killed must be women and children. That is ~86%.
Thank you for clearing that up.