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Gaza Death Toll Figures Inflated to Bolster Genocide Claims, Study Finds
People demonstrate in the city of Santander, Spain, under the motto ‘Let’s stop the genocide in Gaza,’ on Jan. 20, 2024. Photo: Joaquin Gomez Sastre/NurPhoto via Reuters Connect
The Gaza death toll has been inflated to defame Israel and and support claims of genocide, a UK-based think tank argued in a newly released report.
The study, published by the Henry Jackson Society, analyzed figures provided by Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry, which claim over 44,000 Palestinians have been killed since Oct. 7 of last year, and found that the numbers are not only unreliable but also deliberately misleading.
The health ministry “has systematically inflated the death toll by failing to distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths, over-reporting fatalities among women and children and even including individuals who died before the conflict began,” the report said.
According to Andrew Fox, the report’s lead author, nearly half of those killed in Gaza are combatants, directly contradicting claims that the vast majority of casualties are civilians.
“You can’t say it’s a genocide when half the people that have died are combatants who are still fighting,” Fox told The Algemeiner.
The report, which was based on an analysis of available casualty data put together by the Fifty Global Research Group, also pointed to inconsistencies in the demographics, such as the repeated listing of children and women to bolster claims of indiscriminate attacks or the lowering of men’s ages to inflate the number of minors killed.
In two cited cases, a 22-year-old was listed as a four-year-old and a 31-year-old was registered as an infant.
Other statistical anomalies further undermined the reliability of the data, with approximately 5,000 natural deaths, unrelated to the conflict, included in the casualty lists. Examples included cancer patients recorded as conflict casualties while still receiving hospital treatment. The report also flagged the failure to differentiate responsibility for deaths, grouping together those killed by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) strikes, misfired Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad rockets, or other causes. In one instance, Gazans killed by Hamas gunmen during food aid distribution were counted among conflict casualties without clarification.
“Hamas’s numbers have been wrong in the past on multiple occasions, and they’re wrong now. And we’ve proved it,” Fox said.
The report found that 5 percent of media outlets used Israeli-issued casualty figures, while 98 percent relied on Hamas numbers. It highlighted the BBC, The New York Times, and CNN and said that less than one in 50 articles included a disclaimer regarding the reliability of the Gaza health ministry figures.
Fox argued that the international media’s reliance on these figures has exacerbated anti-Israel sentiment and contributed to a surge in “horrible waves of antisemitism” globally.
“The numbers aren’t reliable enough to cite, and [Hamas’s] demographics are especially flawed, but the world’s media is relying on them,” he said, adding that this has stoked outrage fueled by the perception of widespread civilian deaths.
Ambassador Husam Zomlot, head of the Palestine Mission to the United Kingdom, dismissed the report’s findings, asserting to the UK’s Telegraph that the casualty figures have been corroborated by “numerous international organizations and UN agencies, including the WHO [World Health Organization].” He also cautioned that the true toll could be even higher, as many victims remain trapped beneath rubble.
In response to Zomlot’s comments, Fox dismissed the reliance on international organizations, saying that “all his appeals to authority are worthless” given the report’s findings that Hamas “deliberately conceals fighter deaths” to distort the narrative.
“You can try and make a moral attack line if you want, but I think it’s more immoral not to analyze a war properly and try and load blame onto one side rather than the other,” Fox told The Algemeiner.
In a separate report released this week by the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (Camera), the BBC was accused of consistently portraying Palestinian terrorists killed in Gaza as innocent civilians. Camera’s findings documented more than 30 cases where BBC Arabic reports failed to acknowledge that many of those killed were armed members of groups like Hamas or Palestine Islamic Jihad.
Hamas, the Palestinian terror group that ruled Gaza before the war, launched the ongoing conflict with its invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. About 1,200 people were killed during the onslaught, and over 250 individuals were kidnapped, taken to the neighboring Palestinian enclave as hostages.
Israel responded with a military campaign aimed at freeing the captives and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities. Critics of Israel, including some human rights organizations and foreign governments, have falsely accused Jerusalem of using their war effort to perpetrate a genocide against Palestinians Gaza.
Amid the conflict, antisemitism has skyrocketed around the world, with anti-Jewish hate crimes and other antisemitic incidents reaching record levels in several countries — often fueled by anti-Israel animus.
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Iranian nuclear program degraded by up to two years, Pentagon says
A satellite image of Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility. Photo: File.
The Pentagon said on Wednesday that US strikes 10 days ago had degraded Iran’s nuclear program by up to two years, suggesting the U.S. military operation likely achieved its goals despite a far more cautious initial assessment that leaked to the public.
Sean Parnell, a Pentagon spokesman, offered the figure at a briefing to reporters, adding that the official estimate was “probably closer to two years.” Parnell did not provide evidence to back up his assessment.
“We have degraded their program by one to two years, at least intel assessments inside the Department [of Defense] assess that,” Parnell told a news briefing.
U.S. military bombers carried out strikes against three Iranian nuclear facilities on June 22 using more than a dozen 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs and more than two dozen Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles.
The evolving U.S. intelligence about the impact of the strikes is being closely watched, after President Donald Trump said almost immediately after they took place that Iran’s program had been obliterated, language echoed by Parnell at Wednesday’s briefing.
Such conclusions often take the U.S. intelligence community weeks or more to determine.
“All of the intelligence that we’ve seen [has] led us to believe that Iran’s — those facilities especially, have been completely obliterated,” Parnell said.
Over the weekend, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, said that Iran could be producing enriched uranium in a few months, raising doubts about how effective US strikes to destroy Tehran’s nuclear program have been.
Several experts have also cautioned that Iran likely moved a stockpile of near weapons-grade highly enriched uranium out of the deeply buried Fordow site before the strikes and could be hiding it.
But US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said last week he was unaware of intelligence suggesting Iran had moved its highly enriched uranium to shield it from US strikes.
A preliminary assessment last week from the Defense Intelligence Agency suggested that the strikes may have only set back Iran’s nuclear program by months. But Trump administration officials said that assessment was low confidence and had been overtaken by intelligence showing Iran’s nuclear program was severely damaged.
According to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, the strikes on the Fordow nuclear site caused severe damage.
“No one exactly knows what has transpired in Fordow. That being said, what we know so far is that the facilities have been seriously and heavily damaged,” Araqchi said in the interview broadcast by CBS News on Tuesday.
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Switzerland Moves to Close Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s Geneva Office Over Legal Irregularities
Palestinians carry aid supplies received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo
Switzerland has moved to shut down the Geneva office of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US- and Israeli-backed aid group, citing legal irregularities in its establishment.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza in late May, implementing a new aid delivery model aimed at preventing the diversion of supplies by Hamas, as Israel continues its defensive military campaign against the Palestinian terrorist group.
The initiative has drawn criticism from the UN and international organizations, some of which have claimed that Jerusalem is causing starvation in the war-torn enclave.
Israel has vehemently denied such accusations, noting that, until its recently imposed blockade, it had provided significant humanitarian aid in the enclave throughout the war.
Israeli officials have also said much of the aid that flows into Gaza is stolen by Hamas, which uses it for terrorist operations and sells the rest at high prices to Gazan civilians.
With a subsidiary registered in Geneva, the GHF — headquartered in Delaware — reports having delivered over 56 million meals to Palestinians in just one month.
According to a regulatory announcement published Wednesday in the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce, the Federal Supervisory Authority for Foundations (ESA) may order the dissolution of the GHF if no creditors come forward within the legal 30-day period.
The Trump administration did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the Swiss decision to shut down its Geneva office.
“The GHF confirmed to the ESA that it had never carried out activities in Switzerland … and that it intends to dissolve the Geneva-registered branch,” the ESA said in a statement.
Last week, Geneva authorities gave the GHF a 30-day deadline to address legal shortcomings or risk facing enforcement measures.
Under local laws and regulations, the foundation failed to meet several requirements: it did not appoint a board member authorized to sign documents domiciled in Switzerland, did not have the minimum three board members, lacked a Swiss bank account and valid address, and operated without an auditing body.
The GHF operates independently from UN-backed mechanisms, which Hamas has sought to reinstate, arguing that these vehicles are more neutral.
Israeli and American officials have rejected those calls, saying Hamas previously exploited UN-run systems to siphon aid for its war effort.
The UN has denied those allegations while expressing concerns that the GHF’s approach forces civilians to risk their safety by traveling long distances across active conflict zones to reach food distribution points.
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Key US Lawmaker Warns Ireland of Potential Economic Consequences for ‘Antisemitic Path’ Against Israel
US Sen. James Risch (R-ID) speaks during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, Washington, DC, May 21, 2024. Photo: Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman James Risch (R-ID) issued a sharp warning Tuesday, accusing Ireland of embracing antisemitism and threatening potential economic consequences if the Irish government proceeds with new legislation targeting Israeli trade.
“Ireland, while often a valuable U.S. partner, is on a hateful, antisemitic path that will only lead to self-inflicted economic suffering,” Risch wrote in a post on X. “If this legislation is implemented, America will have to seriously reconsider its deep and ongoing economic ties. We will always stand up to blatant antisemitism.”
Marking a striking escalation in rhetoric from a senior US lawmaker, Risch’s comments came amid growing tensions between Ireland and Israel, which have intensified dramatically since the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. Those attacks, in which roughly 1,200 Israelis were killed and more than 200 taken hostage, prompted a months-long Israeli military campaign in Gaza that has drawn widespread international scrutiny. Ireland has positioned itself as one of the most vocal critics of Israel’s response, accusing the Israeli government of disproportionate use of force and calling for immediate humanitarian relief and accountability for the elevated number of Palestinian civilian casualties.
Dublin’s stance has included tangible policy shifts. In May 2024, Ireland formally recognized a Palestinian state, becoming one of the first European Union members to do so following the outbreak of the war in Gaza. The move was condemned by Israeli officials, who recalled their ambassador to Ireland and accused the Irish government of legitimizing terrorism. Since then, Irish lawmakers have proposed further measures, including legislation aimed at restricting imports from Israeli settlements in the West Bank, policies viewed in Israel and among many American lawmakers as aligning with the controversial Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
While Irish leaders have defended their approach as grounded in international law and human rights, critics in Washington, including Risch, have portrayed it as part of a broader pattern of hostility toward Israel. Some US lawmakers have begun raising the possibility of reevaluating trade and diplomatic ties with Ireland in response.
Risch’s warning is one of the clearest indications yet that Ireland’s policies toward Israel could carry economic consequences. The United States is one of Ireland’s largest trading partners, and American companies such as Apple, Google, Meta and Pfizer maintain substantial operations in the country, drawn by Ireland’s favorable tax regime and access to the EU market.
Though the Trump administration has not echoed Risch’s warning, the remarks reflect growing unease in Washington about the trajectory of Ireland’s foreign policy. The State Department has maintained a careful balancing act, expressing strong support for Israel’s security while calling for increased humanitarian access in Gaza. Officials have stopped short of condemning Ireland’s actions directly but have expressed concern about efforts they see as isolating Israel on the international stage.
Ireland’s stance is emblematic of a growing international divide over the war. While the US continues to provide military and diplomatic backing to Israel, many European countries have called for an immediate ceasefire and investigations into alleged war crimes.
Irish public opinion has long leaned pro-Palestinian, and Irish lawmakers have repeatedly voiced concern over the scale of destruction in Gaza and the dire humanitarian situation.
Irish officials have not yet responded to The Algemeiner’s request for comment.
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