(UnitedHeadlines.com) – The United Nations has published a new number of children and women killed in Gaza, sparking confusion and anger.
According to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the number of children and women killed was lower on the website because the numbers reflect the age and gender of the people killed who have been identified. The numbers previously only included the total number of people who had been killed, which is listed on the website above the new breakdown.
As of May 6, the online report showed that among the total death toll of 34,735, there were 9,500 women and 14,500 children killed. On May 8, the new reporting changed its source of information from the government media office to the Ministry of Health in Gaza and showed the number of people killed in Gaza as 24,686, including 4,959 women, 7,797 children, and 10,006 men. There was also a new category added to the website for the number of elderly killed, listed as 1,924 people.
As of May 13, the government media office in Gaza published its updated death toll as 35,091, including 9,961 women and 15,103 children.
OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke stated the “numbers have not dramatically shifted,” adding that what has changed is “the level of verification.”
The change in reporting the death toll number caused some Israeli officials to believe there had been a drop in the number of women and children killed, supporting their claim that health officials in Gaza inflated the number to cover up the number of Hamas militant fighters killed.
On Twitter, Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Israel Katz wrote the numbers reflected “the miraculous resurrection of the dead.”
World Health Organization spokesman Christian Lindmeier stated that at first glance, he found the change in numbers “striking,” but added that “it was clear” it was the same data presented in a different way when he looked closer. However, he noted that the confusion around the change in death toll data shows the “huge challenge” of identifying those killed during times of war.
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