In a devastating letter sent to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris this week, 99 health workers who have volunteered in Gaza amid the genocide wrote that Israel has likely already killed over 118,908 Palestinians in Gaza. This is approximately 5.4 percent of Gaza’s population, meaning Israel has killed 1 of every 20 Palestinians in the Strip in less than a year, according to this estimate.
Not only is this figure horrific, it is also the “most conservative estimate” possible of the true death toll in Gaza, the health workers wrote in an appendix to the letter. The workers calculated this based on estimates from food insecurity researchers on the death toll caused by famine; rough estimates of deaths by disease; and other estimates of deaths that Gaza health officials are unable to count.
The workers, who spent a combined 254 weeks in Gaza, specifically emphasize the impact that Israel’s genocide has had on children. For instance, they point out that, according to officially reported figures, Israel has killed at least 2,100 babies and toddlers since October 7 — a toll that is higher than the combined Israeli death toll from the First Intifada, the Second Intifada and October 7 attack.
There was a Lancet study a while back that said the real number of deaths is likely five times the official number. Now that specific study doesn’t have to be 100% correct, but it’s a plain fact that the official number is a severe understatement, for two reasons:
First, the official number is the number of dead bodies the Gaza Health Ministry physically counted. It’s the number ofphysically confirmed deaths. That’s why they could release those lists of dead people, but it also means that anyone whose body wasn’t taken to a hospital (say, someone starved in the middle of nowhere or died under rubble) won’t be counted. This makes the GHM number the minimum possible number of deaths, not any kind of estimate trying to make up for blind spots.
Second, the Gazan healthcare system collapsed months ago. Most if not all hospitals got Al Shifa’d, and the ones working don’t have gas, electricity or any supplies. This is why the number plateaued (plateau’d???) several months ago. There’s nobody to count the dead, so because of the system I explained above the number is going up.
So anyway, what you’re seeing in the article isn’t that. It’s an estimate trying to make up for the dead who aren’t included in the 40000 the GHM counted. That’s the reason it’s so high.