Thank you for including this for balance. I appreciate it. Just a note about the numbers. If you'll remember, the original figure for Israel put out was upwards of 1,500. That was revised down for accuracy, and independent observers have confirmed this. It is uncontroversial. Gaza numbers, on the other hand, are far from uncontroversial. As you rightly note, they do not distinguish between civilians and combatants. (all of the victims in Israel on Oct 7 were civilians, there was no 'military' objective). Also, the numbers come from the Gaza Health Ministry, which is run by Hamas, the perpetrators of the atrocity of Oct 7 and are known to regularly claim higher numbers than on the ground evidence shows, such as the hospital that they immediately claimed was destroyed with 500 deaths, when it wasn't destroyed and there were only about 50 deaths in a parking lot caused by their own misfired rocket (common also, but never counted by them in their casualties). This is the norm for them. Everyday they publish numbers that are never verified or revised in any way, and the media tends to report the numbers uncritically (like they did the hospital event). None of this, it goes without saying, is to take away from the immense sadness of the tragedies of civilians dying in Gaza. I am just pointing out the type of understanding we need to evaluate what is happening. Propaganda does occur on both sides, but if we need a grain of salt for Israel, we need a pretty large rock of salt for Hamas. Thanks.
Thank you for including this for balance. I appreciate it. Just a note about the numbers. If you'll remember, the original figure for Israel put out was upwards of 1,500. That was revised down for accuracy, and independent observers have confirmed this. It is uncontroversial. Gaza numbers, on the other hand, are far from uncontroversial. As you rightly note, they do not distinguish between civilians and combatants. (all of the victims in Israel on Oct 7 were civilians, there was no 'military' objective). Also, the numbers come from the Gaza Health Ministry, which is run by Hamas, the perpetrators of the atrocity of Oct 7 and are known to regularly claim higher numbers than on the ground evidence shows, such as the hospital that they immediately claimed was destroyed with 500 deaths, when it wasn't destroyed and there were only about 50 deaths in a parking lot caused by their own misfired rocket (common also, but never counted by them in their casualties). This is the norm for them. Everyday they publish numbers that are never verified or revised in any way, and the media tends to report the numbers uncritically (like they did the hospital event). None of this, it goes without saying, is to take away from the immense sadness of the tragedies of civilians dying in Gaza. I am just pointing out the type of understanding we need to evaluate what is happening. Propaganda does occur on both sides, but if we need a grain of salt for Israel, we need a pretty large rock of salt for Hamas. Thanks.