Nothing Wrong with Gaza Death Toll Figures, WHO Says 

Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced people, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, in Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, May 14, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced people, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, in Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, May 14, 2024. (Reuters)
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Nothing Wrong with Gaza Death Toll Figures, WHO Says 

Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced people, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, in Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, May 14, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced people, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, in Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, May 14, 2024. (Reuters)

The World Health Organization voiced full confidence in Gaza Ministry of Health death toll figures on Tuesday, saying they were actually getting closer to confirming the scale of losses after Israel questioned a change in the numbers. 

Gaza's health ministry last week updated its breakdown of the total fatalities of around 35,000 since Oct. 7, saying that about 25,000 of those have so far been fully identified, of whom more than half were women and children. 

This sparked allegations from Israel of inaccuracy since Palestinian authorities had previously estimated that more than 70% of those killed were women and children. UN agencies have republished the Palestinian figures, which have since risen above 35,000 dead, citing the source. 

"Nothing wrong with the data, the overall data (more than 35,000) are still the same," said WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier at a Geneva press briefing in response to questions about the toll. "The fact we now have 25,000 identified people is a step forward," he added. 

Based on his own extrapolation of the latest Palestinian data, he said that around 60% of victims were women and children, but many bodies buried beneath rubble were likely to fall into these categories when they were eventually identified. 

He added that it was "normal" for death tolls to shift in conflicts, recalling that Israel had revised down its own death toll from the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks to 1,200 after checks. 

"We're basically talking about 35,000 people who are dead, and really every life matters, doesn't it?" Liz Throssel, spokesperson for the UN human rights office, said at the same briefing.  

"And we know that many and many of those are women and children and there are 1,000s missing under the rubble." 



Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
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Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)

Israel’s military ordered the evacuation Saturday of a crowded part of Gaza designated as a humanitarian zone, saying it is planning an operation against Hamas militants in Khan Younis, including parts of Muwasi, a makeshift tent camp where thousands are seeking refuge.

The order comes in response to rocket fire that Israel says originates from the area. It's the second evacuation issued in a week in an area designated for Palestinians fleeing other parts of Gaza. Many Palestinians have been uprooted multiple times in search of safety during Israel's punishing air and ground campaign.

On Monday, after the evacuation order, multiple Israeli airstrikes hit around Khan Younis, killing at least 70 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, citing figures from Nasser Hospital.

The area is part of a 60-square-kilometer (roughly 20-square-mile) “humanitarian zone” to which Israel has been telling Palestinians to flee to throughout the war. Much of the area is blanketed with tent camps that lack sanitation and medical facilities and have limited access to aid, United Nations and humanitarian groups say. About 1.8 million Palestinians are sheltering there, according to Israel's estimates. That's more than half Gaza’s pre-war population of 2.3 million.

The war in Gaza has killed more than 39,100 Palestinians, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. The UN estimated in February that some 17,000 children in the territory are now unaccompanied, and the number is likely to have grown since.

The war began with an assault by Hamas fighters on southern Israel on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took about 250 hostages. About 115 are still in Gaza, about a third of them believed to be dead, according to Israeli authorities.