The Lancet estimates that the actual number of Gazans who have died as a result of bombardment and abuse by the Israeli army is underestimated by approximately 40 % compared to the figures published by the Hamas Ministry of Health. Here's why.
The Gaza Strip is now a huge graveyard. And while Hamas's health ministry already estimates that the total number of civilians killed by the Israeli army is in the tens of thousands, the British medical journal The Lancet estimates that the death toll in Gaza during the first nine months of the genocidal policy implemented by the government of Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu is about 40 % higher than that recorded by the Palestinian health ministry.
From the start of the Israeli crackdown following the attack by the armed wing of Hamas on 7 October 2023 to 30 June 2024, the Ministry of Health reported 37,877 deaths. However, a study by the Lancet, published on Thursday, January 9, estimates that between 55,298 and 78,525 deaths were caused by traumatic injuries in Gaza during this period. The likely number of deaths estimated by the British journal is therefore 64,260 by this date.
10 000 Gazans still missing
This represents 2.9 % of Gaza's pre-war population, "approximately one in every 35 residents", the study says. This figure is 41 % higher than that reported in political and media circles until then. By comparison, on Thursday, 9 January 2025, the Hamas Ministry of Health estimated that 46,006 Gazans had died during the fifteen months of bombardment and abuse by the Israeli army.
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