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The Lancet magazine estimates that more than 64,600 people died from “traumatic injuries” between October 2023 and June 2024.
MADRID, 10 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The death toll in the Gaza Strip due to the military offensive launched by Israel would be 41 percent higher than that provided by the authorities of the enclave, controlled by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), for the period between 7 October 2023 and June 30, 2024, according to a study published this Friday by ‘The Lancet’ magazine.
The magazine has estimated 64,620 deaths from “traumatic injuries” during the study period, before pointing out that, “if it is assumed that the level of underestimation of 41 percent continued between July and October 2024, it is plausible that the figure currently exceeds 70,000”, although the Gaza Ministry of Health has so far confirmed close to 46,000 fatalities.
“Our analyzes suggest high mortality rates and a substantial underestimation of mortality due to traumatic injuries in the Gaza Strip during the first nine months of the Israeli military operation,” he specified in his report, in which he states that the number of The deaths represent “approximately 2.9 percent of the pre-war population and approximately one in every 35 inhabitants.”
Thus, it has asserted that “the estimated annualized mortality from traumatic injuries of 39.3 per thousand is exceptionally high,” while detailing that “the scale and age and sex patterns of these deaths raise serious concerns about the conduct of the military operation in Gaza, despite Israel saying it is acting to minimize civilian casualties.”
“The majority of deaths, 59.1 percent, have been recorded among women, children – minors – and older people – over 65 years of age – groups considered particularly vulnerable in contexts of conflict and less likely that they are combatants”, has argued ‘The Lancet’, which has stressed that these conclusions “underestimate the total impact” of the offensive, since “they do not take into account the deaths due to the effects of health services, insecurity food and the inadequacy of water and hygiene conditions.
In this sense, he has asserted that mortality among civilians “is a key metric” to analyze conflict behaviors and the consequences at the level of public health, while recalling that “in 2021, the Gazan Ministry of Health achieved good precision in documentation on mortality”, in addition to having “considerably reliable” balances in previous offensives, including that of 2014.
However, he noted that “the quality of mortality data from the Gaza Ministry of Health appears to have deteriorated” since the start of the offensive launched on October 7, 2023 in response to attacks by Hamas and other Palestinian factions against Israel. , which left some 1,200 dead and nearly 250 kidnapped.
“The escalation of Israeli ground military operations and attacks on health facilities disrupted the (Gaza Health Ministry’s) ability to electronically record deaths. These challenges led the ministry to rely on less structured modes of data collection, particularly when hospitals were under siege or suffered telecommunications blockages,” he explained.
“This could have led to incomplete or geographically biased information,” he noted, while stating that as of June 20, 2024, the Gazan authorities had confirmed 37,877 deaths, of which only 28,185 were identified.
Thus, he recalled that on this date “the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) project had counted 39,276 deaths through media, civil society and government sources”, while “the Prime Minister of Israel (Benjamin Netanyahu) He stated that around 30,000 people had died in Gaza as of May 2024.”
‘The Lancet’ has maintained that for its study it has used three different databases: one of lists of hospitals from the Gaza Ministry of Health, one based on a survey carried out by the Gazan authorities via the Internet and another from obituaries published on social networks. All of them were subsequently contrasted to eliminate discrepancies and repetitions.
“Our analysis supports the accuracy of the Ministry of Health’s mortality figures, although it suggests that they should be treated as a minimum estimate subject to considerable underestimation,” he said, before adding that “once the military assault is over, rebuilding “The health information system in Gaza will be an essential priority to accurately assess impacts and support future public health efforts.”
On the other hand, he has elaborated that these conclusions point to an “urgent need for expanded humanitarian access throughout the Gaza Strip and the protection of health personnel, ambulances and medical facilities so that people with traumatic injuries can access adequate and appropriate manner to medical care, thus reducing mortality.
In addition, he has called for “immediate diplomatic initiatives to achieve an immediate and sustained cessation of hostilities and a lasting agreement that includes the release of Israeli hostages and thousands of Palestinian civilians imprisoned by Israel”, before delving into the fact that “active investigations into the potential commission of war crimes are important to affirming the principles of justice and holding those responsible on all sides to account.
REQUEST FROM THE GAZA AUTHORITIES
Following this, the press office of the Gaza authorities has called on the international community to “support efforts to count victims and recover thousands of bodies in the Gaza Strip”, after stating on several occasions that around 10,000 people would be missing.
Thus, he has expressed his “deep concern” about the results of the ‘The Lancet’ study and has noted that this figure is “significantly higher” than that announced by the Gaza Ministry of Health, which in its latest balance sheet, which dates from Thursday, he spoke of 46,006 deaths and 109,378 until January 9, 2025.
The office has recalled in its Telegram account that the balance provided by the ministry only contemplates “the martyrs who arrive at hospitals”, while pointing out that the magazine’s study “reflects the extent of the catastrophe caused by the Army of Israeli occupation against civilians and civilian facilities in the Gaza Strip.
“This discrepancy is the result of the failure to register all victims killed by the Israeli occupation in all governorates and the catastrophic humanitarian conditions and the restriction of standards followed by the Gaza Ministry of Health,” he said, before to assert that “the continued murders, siege and attacks against medical personnel, destruction of hospitals and obstruction of the work of Civil Protection teams undermine efforts to recover and bury thousands of bodies.”
“The published statistics reflect only a limited part of the bitter reality experienced by the honorable Palestinian people,” he lamented. Finally, he has called on the international community to adopt “effective and urgent actions to stop Israeli aggression and lift the unjust siege imposed on more than 2,444,000 civilians in Gaza, which has caused the largest humanitarian disaster in decades.”