al Jazeera:
‘Appalling’: Why has Biden cast doubt on the Palestinian death count?
Rights advocates condemn the US president for denying Palestinian suffering ‘even in death’ during the Israel-Hamas war.
Palestinian children sit amid the rubble of a building destroyed by Israeli attacks in Khan Younis, part of the southern Gaza Strip, on October 17 [File: Mohammed Salem/Reuters]
By Ali Harb
Published On 26 Oct 202326 Oct 2023
Washington, DC – The list of Palestinians killed in the war in Gaza stretches for more than 150 pages, at times featuring dozens of people with the same last name: Entire families have been wiped out by Israeli air attacks.
The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza released the list on Thursday, documenting the deaths of more than 7,000 Palestinians, including nearly 3,000 children, since the war began on October 7.
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By Ali Harb
Published On 26 Oct 202326 Oct 2023
Washington, DC – The list of Palestinians killed in the war in Gaza stretches for more than 150 pages, at times featuring dozens of people with the same last name: Entire families have been wiped out by Israeli air attacks.
The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza released the list on Thursday, documenting the deaths of more than 7,000 Palestinians, including nearly 3,000 children, since the war began on October 7.
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Each name is paired with a government identification number — a step meant to indicate transparency.
But less than 24 hours earlier, United States President Joe Biden cast doubt over the figures, saying that he has “no confidence in the number that the Palestinians are using”.
“I have no notion that the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed,” Biden said on Wednesday.
For Palestinian rights advocates, the US president’s comments are another episode in his administration’s push to “dehumanise” Palestinians and dismiss their suffering, as Washington continues to support Israel’s bombing campaign.
Moreover, critics were quick to point out that human rights experts, including at the United Nations, have long found the Palestinian Health Ministry’s data to be reliable.
Palestinian American activist Zeina Ashrawi Hutchison said Biden’s remarks seem to question Palestinians’ humanity “even in death”.
“The president’s statements are outrageous, irresponsible and flat-out racist and anti-Palestinian,” she told Al Jazeera.
“Is this the war some of you are defending?”
Nonprofit finds statistics ‘reliable’
Biden’s publicly professed doubts come as the US continues to resist calls for a ceasefire and instead continues to pledge military support for Israel.
Yara Asi, a Palestinian American public health expert at the University of Central Florida, called the president’s remarks “appalling”.
“To dispute those figures was really, really just putting both feet in with Israel on this, in yet another way that dehumanises Palestinians,” Asi told Al Jazeera.
With Israel preventing foreign journalists or researchers from entering Gaza as the conflict intensifies, the territory’s health ministry has become the go-to source for understanding the Palestinian death count.
While it is difficult — if not impossible — to independently verify the numbers released from Gaza, Omar Shakir, the Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch (HRW), said the ministry’s data has often reflected the nonprofit’s own research.
Shakir said when HRW previously conducted its own investigations into past attacks on Palestinians, it did not find major discrepancies between its findings and the numbers provided by the health ministry.
“Human Rights Watch has been working in the occupied Palestinian territories for three decades. We’ve covered rounds of escalations and hostilities, and we’ve always found the numbers from the Ministry of Health to be generally reliable,” Shakir said.
He distinguished formal figures released by the ministry from comments made by individual health officials in Gaza, saying that the ministry has access to data from hospitals and morgues, which allows it to more accurately assess the death toll.
In fact, Thursday’s report noted that the current death toll does not include people who have been killed but were not brought to hospitals or registered at morgues.
Biden’s publicly professed doubts come as the US continues to resist calls for a ceasefire and instead continues to pledge military support for Israel.
Yara Asi, a Palestinian American public health expert at the University of Central Florida, called the president’s remarks “appalling”.
“To dispute those figures was really, really just putting both feet in with Israel on this, in yet another way that dehumanises Palestinians,” Asi told Al Jazeera.
With Israel preventing foreign journalists or researchers from entering Gaza as the conflict intensifies, the territory’s health ministry has become the go-to source for understanding the Palestinian death count.
While it is difficult — if not impossible — to independently verify the numbers released from Gaza, Omar Shakir, the Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch (HRW), said the ministry’s data has often reflected the nonprofit’s own research.
Shakir said when HRW previously conducted its own investigations into past attacks on Palestinians, it did not find major discrepancies between its findings and the numbers provided by the health ministry.
“Human Rights Watch has been working in the occupied Palestinian territories for three decades. We’ve covered rounds of escalations and hostilities, and we’ve always found the numbers from the Ministry of Health to be generally reliable,” Shakir said.
He distinguished formal figures released by the ministry from comments made by individual health officials in Gaza, saying that the ministry has access to data from hospitals and morgues, which allows it to more accurately assess the death toll.
In fact, Thursday’s report noted that the current death toll does not include people who have been killed but were not brought to hospitals or registered at morgues.
Israeli army is bombarding southern Gaza where it told 1.1M Palestinians to move for their safety
Shakir also noted that the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) relies on the health authority’s data, which has also been cited by the US State Department.
In the current war, the Israeli military has said it dropped thousands of bombs on Gaza, including 6,000 in the first six days alone.
“We’ve been looking at satellite imagery. We’ve been looking at what’s taking place. The numbers coming out of the ministry are not beyond reason,” Shakir said. “They’re within the range of what one would expect from air strikes of this intensity.”
An OCHA spokesperson in the occupied Palestinian territories also told Al Jazeera on Thursday that the UN agency continues to use the ministry’s figures.
“The United Nations relies on the Health Ministry in Gaza as a source for casualties figures in that area,” the spokesperson said in an email.
“We continue to include their data in our reporting and it is clearly sourced. It is nearly impossible at the moment to provide any UN verification on a day-to-day basis.”
‘How much lower?’
On top of casting doubt over Palestinian accounts, the Biden administration has consistently rejected any independent investigations into suspected Israeli war crimes, including by the International Criminal Court.
For example, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said earlier this week that an international investigation into the explosion at the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital that killed hundreds of people in Gaza would not be “appropriate at this time”.
Instead, he cited what he said was Israeli evidence that the explosion at the hospital was caused by a misfired Palestinian rocket. Palestinian officials have said the explosion was the result of an Israeli attack.
Likewise, when Israeli forces killed Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh last year, Israel’s authorities initially claimed that the reporter was shot by Palestinian gunmen. In turn, the Biden administration also opposed any formal, independent investigation into the incident.
Several Palestinian Americans told Al Jazeera that Biden’s statement about the Palestinian death toll only furthers the case that he is wholeheartedly adopting the Israeli government’s narratives at the expense of Palestinian victims.
“As if the president hadn’t already been complicit enough in the dehumanisation of Palestinians, now he says he doesn’t trust us when we say we are being murdered,” Palestinian American activist and comedian Amer Zahr told Al Jazeera.
“How much lower could one stoop than to say we are lying about dying?”
For her part, Asi, the public health expert, said the Biden administration understands that civilian casualties are “extremely unpopular”.
“So if you both cast doubt on Palestinian numbers but support no investigations — not even foreign journalists entering Gaza — what you’re really saying is: The death count does not matter because we’re going to support this regardless. We’re going to find ways to justify it,” she said.
Dana El Kurd, a non-resident senior fellow at the Arab Center Washington DC, echoed Asi’s comments.
“This is incredibly dehumanising and casts suspicion around Palestinians writ large,” El Kurd told Al Jazeera. “The assumption is that they are always lying and that they are always inaccurate narrators of what’s happening to them.”
Several Palestinian Americans told Al Jazeera that Biden’s statement about the Palestinian death toll only furthers the case that he is wholeheartedly adopting the Israeli government’s narratives at the expense of Palestinian victims.
“As if the president hadn’t already been complicit enough in the dehumanisation of Palestinians, now he says he doesn’t trust us when we say we are being murdered,” Palestinian American activist and comedian Amer Zahr told Al Jazeera.
“How much lower could one stoop than to say we are lying about dying?”
For her part, Asi, the public health expert, said the Biden administration understands that civilian casualties are “extremely unpopular”.
“So if you both cast doubt on Palestinian numbers but support no investigations — not even foreign journalists entering Gaza — what you’re really saying is: The death count does not matter because we’re going to support this regardless. We’re going to find ways to justify it,” she said.
Dana El Kurd, a non-resident senior fellow at the Arab Center Washington DC, echoed Asi’s comments.
“This is incredibly dehumanising and casts suspicion around Palestinians writ large,” El Kurd told Al Jazeera. “The assumption is that they are always lying and that they are always inaccurate narrators of what’s happening to them.”
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA
Because Dead Hamas, People who Died naturally from Old age and Poor Water like in Kelantan, Kedah, Trengganu are part of the figure,,,,Like During Covid , No one died from Flu, Heart Attack, old age, cancer...ALL covid Caused due to some Rubbish the Satan of this world wants you to believe. Hamas = Satanic Isam Cult that MAd-Idiot-ni xxWAR support...and those UMNO PAS PEJUANG PKR BERSATU AMANAH Ah Long Sue Tan....Only Satanic Driven mind can think what Hamas Did is like EID to the ISAM SATANIC Inspired World. Again if you prefer to Live in Gaza over Isreal is already a Satanic Inspired Thoughts....What else needs to be said other than Padan muka Orang Kelantan, Kedah, Trengganu terus di Landa Banjir, minur Air Keroh...Padan Muka Babi...like those Bangsat Officer Terrorist acts agains those who are making a living on land they planted for 20+ Years...Leave them to make a living....Maybe they should be thought to Launch Rockets Daily around Malaysial as an ACT TO JUSTIFY THEIR GRIEF!!
ReplyDeleteHamas definitely lied about the unavailability of diesel fuel for hospitals and water desalination in Gaza.
ReplyDeleteThere are photos of tank farms full off gazillion thousands of litres of diesel fuel in Gaza.
Only that Hamas is definitely a withholding them, for military use only.
Reference?? I like to check them out myself
Delete"water desalination"
DeleteWithin Gaza Stripe!
Wow… mfer, u r indeed born yesterday.
Ooop… feed with yr masters obedient fart, too.
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS8L8QLByGiFcYtQtoIAgmH7EEWMm5b3m_zWA&usqp=CAU
DeleteI'm sure you will dismiss this as Israeli lies, but the photo is real.
Just look up Google Earth, the tank farm is there for real
https://www.unicef.org/stories/unicef-seawater-desalination-plant-helps-head-gaza-water-crisis
DeleteGaza water desalination plant indeed.
This CK idiot, is totally ignorant, just like all other Wumao fools.
Wakakakaka…
DeleteMfer, u have been conned kawx2! & Help spreading fabricated lies!
Those tank farm shown in the photo were those storage facilities operated & maintained by the earlier Israeli settlers amongst many of the kibbutzim built on annexed lands occupied by Israel since many of the Israel/Arab wars.
There were 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip under the administration of the Hof Aza Regional Council. In 2005 Israel evacuated and dismantled all of the 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip, along with four in the West Bank, as part of its unilateral disengagement from Gaza, following the 1979 Egypt–Israel peace agreement.
Thus the photo is old copy of the original tank setup, which has since bee destroyed/dismantled when the Israeli settlers evacuated.
Ooop… mfer, would u think that the Zionists would be so KIND to leave any of the functioning infrastructure to the Gazan when they leave?
Better still, mfer, Maxar satellites provide high-resolution satellite imagery free of charge. Do a search on Maxar site to get the latest land imagery on Gaza to prove yr fart!
The Google Earth tank farm has NO locational coordinates to show that the image it proves is CURRENT & WITHIN Gaza Strip!
Wakakakaka…
DeleteSeawater desalination is energy intensive. In recent years, however, Gaza Strip has face an acute energy shortage, with the electricity grid in Gaza Strip running for only limited hours each day. this means that the desalination plant often operates using emergency diesel generators.
No diesel fuel, no electricity. Even those miniscule solar panels r been targeted for bombings by the Zionists.
Besides, Israel controls most water resources and related infrastructure in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Thus, this UNICEF partnered EU in 2017 seawater desalination plant is been mothballed by the Zionist administrator long before the current war starts!
Mfer, u MUST read into detail about the propagandas of yr idols.
What used to exist, no longer functioning now due to the 'humanitarian' consideration of the f*cked Zionists!
Ooop… u do think that the Zionists would be so kind to leave all these infrastructure intact w/o bombing them to kingdom comes!
This Wumao, likening all those volunteered others, IS definitely MORE aware of the current happenstance than a know-nothing mger trying to use twistef archaic Info's to whitewash the Zionists' atrocious ACTS!