Sky News host Chris Kenny says the West must be “very sceptical” of death toll claims coming from Gaza as they are numbers only Hamas allows out of the region. “I have said before that we have to be very sceptical … about claims made when it comes to casualties in Gaza … the only numbers coming out of Gaza are numbers that Hamas allows out of Gaza,” Mr Kenny said.
“The UN, quietly, has dramatically revised downwards its claims about the number of women and children killed in Gaza, just a week ago they were claiming more than 9,500 women had been killed and more than 14,500 children, two days later, they reduced those numbers to less than 5,000 women and less than 8,000 children.
“If those numbers are true, they are horrible, a horrendous toll, a terrible loss because of a war Hamas has deliberately, started, and deliberately prolonged.
“So, the UN now revises down the civilian toll by almost half … the bottom line is the war must end … Hamas must hand over the remaining hostages and surrender its terrorists, the sooner the better.”
Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for UN Secretary General António Guterres, said last week the UN is consistently revising and cross-checking its figures — which it obtains from Gaza’s Ministry of Health, the Gaza Media Office and other sources — but blamed the “fog of war” for the difficulty in being able to ascertain accurate death tolls. Israeli officials and others have criticized the UN for relying on statistics from Gaza’s government, which has been run by Hamas since the group took control of the territory in 2007, and for using figures that don’t differentiate between Palestinian civilians and combatants.