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Hamas Vastly Inflated Gaza Death Statistics, Study Shows
Smoke rises as displaced Palestinians take shelter at Al Shifa hospital, amid the ongoing conflict between Hamas and Israel, in Gaza City, Nov. 8, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Doaa Rouqa
JNS.org – A rigorous analysis published on Saturday of Hamas authorities’ death statistics in Gaza shows they were vastly inflated and methodologically flawed.
The report by the London-based Henry Jackson Society security think tank breaks down the figure of about 44,000 deaths since Oct. 7, 2023, that the Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza has published, and which international media have reported without scrutiny.
The scale of civilian deaths in Gaza is a key element in a legal and propaganda push attempt by Israel’s enemies to isolate it internationally using false allegations of genocide.
The figure, which does not distinguish between civilians and the 17,000 terrorists Israel says it has killed in Gaza, also includes about 5,000 people who die of natural causes each year, states the report.
“This report raises serious concerns that the Gaza MoH figures have been overstated,” wrote Andrew Fox, an analyst who specializes in defense, the Middle East and disinformation, who wrote the report for the Henry Jackson Society.
The report was reported on Saturday in mainstream media, including the New York Post and The Telegraph, whose article the Israel Foreign Ministry reposted on X.
‘Questionable Counting’
“The data behind their figures contains natural deaths, deaths from before this conflict began and deaths of those killed by Hamas itself; it contains no mention of Hamas combatant fatalities; and it overstates the number of women and children killed,” reads the report, titled “Questionable Counting: Analyzing the Death Toll from the Hamas-Run Ministry of Health in Gaza.”
Some cancer patients were listed as requiring treatment after they had already been listed as war causalities. Jihad Mahmoud Adeeb Al-Taweel, ID number 950130153, was described in an April 15 list as a patient with laryngeal cancer, two weeks after being listed as a war fatality.
The report outlined additional statistical inconsistencies in the data collection process, including in the hospitals that reported it to the health ministry.
A “dramatic change happened in reports from al-Aqsa hospital [in Deir al-Balah], where the claimed number of fatalities jumped from 4,994, as per the 31 March 2024 report, to 6,608 just a week later. At the same time, the number of children jumped from 1,294 to 2,142, meaning children were responsible for 52.5% of the sharp increase,” the report said.
In a Dec. 10 article about the latest death statistics by the health ministry in Gaza, The Palestine Chronicle reported that “Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children”—a claim that anti-Israel activists often cite to promote the genocide charge against the Jewish state.
But Fox’s report found that “most fatalities are men aged 15–45, contradicting claims that civilian populations are being disproportionately targeted.” Deaths reported by families, as opposed to how they are listed by the health ministry, “suggests that many fatalities classified as civilian may be combatants, a distinction omitted from official reporting,” the Fox report states.
On Dec. 10, Hamas’s Government Media Office wrote that nearly 44% of 44,758 reported fatalities in the Gaza Strip were children. The report disputes this data, showing cases of adults being listed as children. The document also shows that the Government Media Office, which says its data come from the health ministry, routinely inflates the share of women and children in the statistics.
The health ministry data also shows that men have been misclassified as women, the Fox report states. “In the August 2024 list, 103 names were marked as female who had a male first name (e.g. Mohammed).”
The report comes as Israel is on trial for alleged genocide at the International Court of Justice and prosecutions for alleged crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court against Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel and the United States, among other countries, have categorically rejected and condemned those charges.
Israel’s advocates have said that even Hamas’s unreliable statistics, when combined with the Israeli estimates on the number of terrorists killed in the Gaza Strip, reveal a relatively low rate of civilian deaths. Considering the urban warfare conditions of the Gaza Strip, and Hamas’s strategy of using civilian shields, Israel’s defenders say the statistics reflect a major effort to avoid civilian loss of life during IDF operations to dismantle Hamas and free Israeli hostages.
An estimated 6,000 Palestinian terrorists invaded Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, murdering some 1,200 people and abducting another 250. About 100 hostages remain in the Gaza Strip, though dozens of them are believed to have died. Israel and Hamas are engaged in indirect talks for a ceasefire. The condition of the hostages is unknown as Hamas has not allowed aid organizations, including the Red Cross, to visit them.
The post Hamas Vastly Inflated Gaza Death Statistics, Study Shows first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.