The UN has denied that the estimated death toll of women and children in the war in Gaza has been revised downward, pointing towards a confusion between the total numbers of dead bodies recorded, and the number of those who have so far been fully identified.
After the Gaza health ministry’s revised totals of those killed first appeared on the website of the UN’s office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (Ocha), they were quickly seized on as proof by pro-Israel media and commentators that the UN had previously been exaggerating the toll.
They showed 24,686 dead which appeared to be a downward revision from the figure of about 35,000 which had been reported earlier in May, with 7,797 children and 4,959 women confirmed dead, about half the toll cited in previous reports. But the UN said on Monday that estimated overall death toll remained about 35,000.
It’s math from the numbers in that article, which is admittedly a few months old at this point. At that time, according to the ministry 70% of 30,000 deaths (~21,000) were women and children.
For the 17,000 that hospital staff reported, 58% (~9,860) of the deaths were recorded as women and children. For the remaining 13,000 the ministry relied on “reliable media sources.”
For the overall percentage of women and children killed to be 70%, 11,140 of the remaining 13,000 reportedly killed must be women and children. That is ~86%.
Thank you for clearing that up.