Death toll in Gaza could exceed 186,000, Lancet journal says... but The Lancet already discredited itself during COVID...
By ethanh // 2024-07-08
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According to the official count, just over 38,000 people have died in Gaza since Israel started retaliating for the October 7 attack. A letter recently published in The Lancet, however, suggests that the true death toll is at least 186,000. Since there are still thousands of people buried underneath the rubble in Gaza, the Palestinian enclave's health ministry is likely underestimating the total number of deaths, the letter, written by "experts" on the subject, claim. Some estimates claim that more than 10,000 bodies are still hiding underneath the rubble. There are also countless "indirect" deaths caused by Israel's interference with the distribution of food, medicine and hygiene products, the letter further insists, with more than 35 percent of Gaza's building infrastructure now destroyed by Israel Defense Forces (IDF). "The total death toll is expected to be large given the intensity of this conflict; destroyed health-care infrastructure; severe shortages of food, water, and shelter; the population's inability to flee to safe places; and the loss of funding to UNRWA, one of the very few humanitarian organizations still active in the Gaza Strip," the letter reads. The letter cites data from the transparency watchdog group Airwars, which conducts detailed investigations of incidents of civilian harm in war-torn areas like Gaza. For privacy reasons, the names of identifiable victims are usually omitted from the group's fatality lists. (Related: Germany's Bild paper claims that Israel will invade Lebanon before the start of August.)

Gaza authorities can't keep track of deaths anymore

Gaza's health ministry is reportedly having an increasingly tougher time trying to keep track of injuries and deaths among Palestinians in Gaza. Since much of the strip's critical infrastructure has been destroyed by Israel, there is simply no way to know for sure what the true casualty count might be. "This change has inevitably degraded the detailed data recorded previously," the letter reads, further explaining that unidentified bodies are now counted separately from the total death toll of identifiable bodies. Like many others are calling for, the letter's authors want there to be an immediate ceasefire in Gaza in order to accurately record "the scale and nature of suffering" in the strip. "Documenting the true scale is crucial for ensuring historical accountability and acknowledging the full cost of the war," the letter reads. "It is also a legal requirement." Meanwhile, the IDF has launched a new offensive on Gaza City that Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh says "could bring the negotiation process back to square one." "Netanyahu and his army will bear full responsibility for the collapse of this path," Haniyeh said, blaming Israel for stopping the peace process. In order to reach a ceasefire agreement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that no hostage deal will be enough to stop Israel from continuing to wage war on Gaza because there are still weapons being smuggled in from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. Netanyahu's statement dealt a major blow to White House claims from last week that mediators had reached "a breakthrough" on months-long peace talks. Down in southern Gaza, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) reopened a health center in Khan Younis that had earlier been closed due to severe damage. As of now, this facility is the only one open in the region. Unfortunately, The Lancet destroyed its own credibility during COVID by publishing fake science papers that claimed ivermectin was extremely dangerous and didn't work as a treatment for COVID. Sources for this article include: TheLancet.com MiddleEastEye.net NaturalNews.com MiddleEastEye.net
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