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Media Ignore Quietly-Revised UN Figures of Hamas-Reported Civilian Deaths
Members of the United Nations Security Council meet on the day of a vote on a Gaza resolution that demands an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan leading to a permanent ceasefire, and the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, at UN headquarters in New York City, US, March 25, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war following the October 7 massacre, a concurrent struggle over the accuracy of death toll figures from Gaza has been fought.
In December, our analysis of civilian casualty figures reported by Hamas, which are published daily by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), indicated discrepancies.
Our findings suggest that the reported numbers, particularly those of women and children compared to men and combatants, are significantly exaggerated.
Therefore, it was interesting to read a May 9 OCHA update that significantly altered the portrayal of casualty figures, with the UN effectively conceding the untrustworthiness of Hamas figures. These figures, however, continued to be parroted by various media outlets.
Hamas as a Source
The claim that the vast majority of casualties (approximately 70%) are women and children has been reported widely by the international media, which cites the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, while frequently failing to mention that it’s run by Hamas.
This week, as Hamas reported that the death toll in Gaza is nearing 35,000 people, news outlets once again cited this figure in stories, while adding that most of those killed were women and children.
The UK’s Daily Mirror, for example, reported that since October 7, “around 35,000 people have been massacred in Palestine, with 70% of them being women and children.”
Aside from the grossly inflammatory use of the word “massacred” in a news story (which the Mirror later amended as per our request), the inaccurate 70% statistic also implies a trigger-happy Israeli military that is cavalier about Palestinian civilian deaths.
Similarly, in a May 12 piece about anti-Israel campus protests, the UK’s Independent reported that the “war has killed nearly 35,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants.”
Reuters published a piece on May 13 that described how Israel’s “bombardment” of the Strip had “laid waste to the coastal enclave and caused a deep humanitarian crisis,” adding that the death toll has now surpassed “35,000 Palestinians.”
The Washington Post reported on May 10 that nearly 35,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, “which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says the majority of the dead are women and children.” The article also noted that Israel has reported 13,000 “fighters” killed, but has “not provided supporting evidence” for this claim, a striking reminder of the selective scrutiny applied by the media.
Meanwhile, NBC News included the context-free statement in a May 12 piece that “Gaza’s health ministry said Sunday more than 35,000 people had been killed since Oct. 7, most of them women and children.”
The United Nations Revises the Stats
As mentioned, the UN publishes the Gaza Health Ministry’s casualty figures on OCHA’s website, presumably where most journalists get their figures.
But somehow they ignored the May 9 OCHA update, which should have made headlines.
For the first time, only casualties who have been positively identified are included in the figures, which significantly revised down the death toll for women and children. The additional deaths reported by Hamas are now vaguely classified as “missing” or “under rubble” — a claim that OCHA now specifically attributes to the “Government Media Office” in Gaza, not its health authorities.
Despite these revisions being available on OCHA’s website for days, the international media has blithely continued to regurgitate erroneous statistics in countless articles.
Major change in Gaza fatality report by UN: They now publish only identified fatalities admitting large number are made up by Hamas. Women & children half the “14,000 kids” killed often claim. Now 24,700 fatalities identified and >14,000 are combatants according to IDF. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/MVj5HY2qo7
— Aizenberg (@Aizenberg55) May 10, 2024
This blatant disregard for accuracy in reporting serves as a stark indictment of the media’s purported commitment to the truth during this Israel-Hamas war.
The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
The post Media Ignore Quietly-Revised UN Figures of Hamas-Reported Civilian Deaths first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iranian Media Claims Obtaining ‘Sensitive’ Israeli Intelligence Materials
FILE PHOTO: The atomic symbol and the Iranian flag are seen in this illustration, July 21, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
i24 News – Iranian and Iran-affiliated media claimed on Saturday that the Islamic Republic had obtained a trove of “strategic and sensitive” Israeli intelligence materials related to Israel’s nuclear facilities and defense plans.
“Iran’s intelligence apparatus has obtained a vast quantity of strategic and sensitive information and documents belonging to the Zionist regime,” Iran’s state broadcaster said, referring to Israel in the manner accepted in those Muslim or Arab states that don’t recognize its legitimacy. The statement was also relayed by the Lebanese site Al-Mayadeen, affiliated with the Iran-backed jihadists of Hezbollah.
The reports did not include any details on the documents or how Iran had obtained them.
The intelligence reportedly included “thousands of documents related to that regime’s nuclear plans and facilities,” it added.
According to the reports, “the data haul was extracted during a covert operation and included a vast volume of materials including documents, images, and videos.”
The report comes amid high tensions over Iran’s nuclear program, over which it is in talks with the US administration of President Donald Trump.
Iranian-Israeli tensions reached an all-time high since the October 7 massacre and the subsequent Gaza war, including Iranian rocket fire on Israel and Israeli aerial raids in Iran that devastated much of the regime’s air defenses.
Israel, which regards the prospect of the antisemitic mullah regime obtaining a nuclear weapon as an existential threat, has indicated it could resort to a military strike against Iran’s installations should talks fail to curb uranium enrichment.
The post Iranian Media Claims Obtaining ‘Sensitive’ Israeli Intelligence Materials first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Retrieves Body of Thai Hostage from Gaza
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz looks on, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Jerusalem, Nov. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
The Israeli military has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage who had been held in Gaza since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday.
Nattapong Pinta’s body was held by a Palestinian terrorist group called the Mujahedeen Brigades, and was recovered from the area of Rafah in southern Gaza, Katz said. His family in Thailand has been notified.
Pinta, an agricultural worker, was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a small Israeli community near the Gaza border where a quarter of the population was killed or taken hostage during the Hamas attack that triggered the devastating war in Gaza.
Israel’s military said Pinta had been abducted alive and killed by his captors, who had also killed and taken to Gaza the bodies of two more Israeli-American hostages that were retrieved earlier this week.
There was no immediate comment from the Mujahedeen Brigades, who have previously denied killing their captives, or from Hamas. The Israeli military said the Brigades were still holding the body of another foreign national. Only 20 of the 55 remaining hostages are believed to still be alive.
The Mujahedeen Brigades also held and killed Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, according to Israeli authorities. Their bodies were returned during a two-month ceasefire, which collapsed in March after the two sides could not agree on terms for extending it to a second phase.
Israel has since expanded its offensive across the Gaza Strip as US, Qatari and Egyptian-led efforts to secure another ceasefire have faltered.
US-BACKED AID GROUP HALTS DISTRIBUTIONS
The United Nations has warned that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade of the enclave, with the rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition nearly tripling.
Aid distribution was halted on Friday after the US-and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said overcrowding had made it unsafe to continue operations. It was unclear whether aid had resumed on Saturday.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of aid distribution which the United Nations says is neither impartial nor neutral. It says it has provided around 9 million meals so far.
The Israeli military said on Saturday that 350 trucks of humanitarian aid belonging to U.N. and other international relief groups were transferred this week via the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza.
The war erupted after Hamas-led terrorists took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in the October 7, 2023 attack, Israel’s single deadliest day.
The post Israel Retrieves Body of Thai Hostage from Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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US Mulls Giving Millions to Controversial Gaza Aid Foundation, Sources Say
Palestinians carry aid supplies which they received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo
The State Department is weighing giving $500 million to the new foundation providing aid to war-shattered Gaza, according to two knowledgeable sources and two former US officials, a move that would involve the US more deeply in a controversial aid effort that has been beset by violence and chaos.
The sources and former US officials, all of whom requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said that money for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) would come from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which is being folded into the US State Department.
The plan has met resistance from some US officials concerned with the deadly shootings of Palestinians near aid distribution sites and the competence of the GHF, the two sources said.
The GHF, which has been fiercely criticized by humanitarian organizations, including the United Nations, for an alleged lack of neutrality, began distributing aid last week amid warnings that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli aid blockade, which was lifted on May 19 when limited deliveries were allowed to resume.
The foundation has seen senior personnel quit and had to pause handouts twice this week after crowds overwhelmed its distribution hubs.
The State Department and GHF did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Reuters has been unable to establish who is currently funding the GHF operations, which began in Gaza last week. The GHF uses private US security and logistics companies to transport aid into Gaza for distribution at so-called secure distribution sites.
On Thursday, Reuters reported that a Chicago-based private equity firm, McNally Capital, has an “economic interest” in the for-profit US contractor overseeing the logistics and security of GHF’s aid distribution hubs in the enclave.
While US President Donald Trump’s administration and Israel say they don’t finance the GHF operation, both have been pressing the United Nations and international aid groups to work with it.
The US and Israel argue that aid distributed by a long-established U.N. aid network was diverted to Hamas. Hamas has denied that.
USAID has been all but dismantled. Some 80 percent of its programs have been canceled and its staff face termination as part of President Donald Trump’s drive to align US foreign policy with his “America First” agenda.
One source with knowledge of the matter and one former senior official said the proposal to give the $500 million to GHF has been championed by acting deputy USAID Administrator Ken Jackson, who has helped oversee the agency’s dismemberment.
The source said that Israel requested the funds to underwrite GHF’s operations for 180 days.
The Israeli government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The two sources said that some US officials have concerns with the plan because of the overcrowding that has affected the aid distribution hubs run by GHF’s contractor, and violence nearby.
Those officials also want well-established non-governmental organizations experienced in running aid operations in Gaza and elsewhere to be involved in the operation if the State Department approves the funds for GHF, a position that Israel likely will oppose, the sources said.
The post US Mulls Giving Millions to Controversial Gaza Aid Foundation, Sources Say first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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