Counting the dead in Gaza: difficult but essential

JVL Introduction

It can be surprisingly difficult to calculate the number of dead in armed conflicts.

While the Ministry of Health in Gaza does its best (and its figures, rejected by the Israel government, are accepted as accurate by Israeli intelligence services as well as the UN and the WHO), collecting data has become increasingly difficult.

To the body counts must be added those still buried in the rubble on which a low estimate of at least 10,000 has been made.

In addition there are the indirect deaths in the coming months and years, likely “to be large given the intensity of this conflict; destroyed health-care infrastructure; severe shortages of food, water, and shelter; the population’s inability to flee to safe places; and the loss of funding to UNRWA”.

Based on information from other conflicts the authors make a conservative estimate of 186,000 deaths or more, almost 8% of the Gazan population.

They stress that “[d]ocumenting the true scale is crucial for ensuring historical accountability and acknowledging the full cost of the war. It is also a legal requirement.”

This information will be needed to assess responsibility under the terms of the ICJ’s interim measures.

RK

This article was originally published by the Lancet on Fri 5 Jul 2024. Read the original here.