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Doubts about the Veracity of Palestinian Death Statistics
(Wall Street Journal) Yaroslav Trofimov - Video and photo evidence coming out of Gaza leaves little doubt that Israeli airstrikes, launched in response to the deadly Hamas attack on Oct. 7, have exacted a steep toll on Palestinian civilians. A senior Israeli official told the Journal he believes "several thousand" Palestinians have died in Gaza, but said that thousands among them were Hamas combatants. Neither the U.S. nor Israel have their own tally or a way to independently count the casualties in Gaza. The Biden administration says its doubts about the veracity of Palestinian statistics were triggered by the Oct. 17 blast at the Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza. The Gaza Ministry of Health quickly put the number of deaths there at 500 and blamed Israel for what it called a "massacre." The U.S. and independent experts say the explosion in the hospital's parking lot was most likely caused by a malfunctioning Palestinian rocket aimed at Israel. U.S. intelligence officials put the number of fatalities in that incident at the lower end of 100-300 people. "The numbers are not reliable. They're just not reliable," said John Kirby, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications. "I would frankly recommend you don't choose numbers put out by an organization that's run by a terrorist organization."