What is Gaza's Ministry of Health and how does it calculate the war's death toll?
How many Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the war between Israel and Hamas started?
With Israel besieging and bombing territory at a scale never seen before, arriving at a precise answer isn't easy. Cell service is spotty. Internet and power are out. Airstrikes have pulverized roads and leveled neighborhoods, slowing rescue work.
Doctors scribble on notepads in overflowing morgues and hospital halls, struggling to account for bodies trapped under rubble and tossed in hastily dug mass graves. The chaos has added to the likelihood of errors.
Yet the Gaza-based Ministry of Health 바카라 게임 웹사이트 an agency in the Hamas-controlled government 바카라 게임 웹사이트 continues to tally casualty numbers. It released its first detailed report on the casualties Thursday, giving names, ID numbers, ages and gender for Palestinians it says have been killed. The total toll is 7,028 Palestinians, including 2,913 minors, according to the ministry.
The ministry is the only official source for Gaza casualties. Israel has sealed Gaza바카라 게임 웹사이트s borders, barring foreign journalists and humanitarian workers. The AP is among a small number of international news organizations with teams in Gaza. While those journalists cannot do a comprehensive count, they바카라 게임 웹사이트ve viewed large numbers of bodies at the sites of airstrikes, morgues and funerals.
The United Nations and other international institutions and experts, as well as Palestinian authorities in the West Bank 바카라 게임 웹사이트 rivals of Hamas 바카라 게임 웹사이트 say the Gaza ministry has long made a good-faith effort to account for the dead under the most difficult conditions.
바카라 게임 웹사이트The numbers may not be perfectly accurate on a minute-to-minute basis,바카라 게임 웹사이트 said Michael Ryan, of the World Health Organization바카라 게임 웹사이트s . 바카라 게임 웹사이트But they largely reflect the level of death and injury.바카라 게임 웹사이트
In previous wars, the ministry's counts have held up to U.N. scrutiny, independent investigations and even Israel's tallies.
But an outlier is the ministry바카라 게임 웹사이트s death toll from an explosion at al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City last week.
There were conflicting accusations of who was responsible, with Hamas officials blaming an Israeli airstrike and Israel saying it was caused by a an errant rocket launched by Palestinian militants. U.S. and French intelligence services also concluded it was likely caused by a misfired rocket. An AP analysis of video, photos and satellite imagery, as well as consultation with experts, showed the cause was likely a rocket launched from Palestinian territory that misfired and crashed. However, a definitive conclusion couldn't be reached.
Video below: Foreign passport holders seen entering Rafah crossing from Gaza to Egypt, first since war began
There have also been conflicting accounts of the explosion바카라 게임 웹사이트s death toll. Within an hour, Gaza's ministry reported 500 Palestinians killed, then lowered that to 471 the next day. Israel says the ministry inflated the toll. American intelligence agencies estimate 100 to 300 people killed, but haven't said how they arrived at the numbers.
The confusion has called into question the ministry바카라 게임 웹사이트s credibility in the Hamas-ruled territory.
Here바카라 게임 웹사이트s a look at how Gaza바카라 게임 웹사이트s Health Ministry has generated death tolls since the war started.
How does the ministry arrive at a death toll?
Gaza바카라 게임 웹사이트s most widely quoted source on casualties is Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra. From an office at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, al-Qidra receives a constant flow of data from every hospital in the strip.
Hospital administrators say they keep records of every wounded person occupying a bed and every dead body arriving at a morgue. They enter this data into a computerized system shared with al-Qidra and colleagues. According to screenshots hospital directors sent to AP, the system looks like a color-coded spreadsheet divided into categories: name, ID number, date of hospital entry, type of injury, condition.
Names aren't always available, al-Qidra said. He and colleagues face disruptions because of spotty connectivity but say they call to double-check the numbers.
The ministry collects data from other sources, too, including the Palestinian Red Crescent.
바카라 게임 웹사이트Every person entering our hospital is recorded,바카라 게임 웹사이트 said Atef Alkahlout, director of Gaza바카라 게임 웹사이트s Indonesian Hospital. 바카라 게임 웹사이트That바카라 게임 웹사이트s a priority.바카라 게임 웹사이트
The ministry releases casualty updates every few hours, providing the number of dead and wounded with a breakdown for men, women and minors. The ministry generally doesn't provide names, ages or locations of those killed. That information comes from reporters on the ground or the Hamas-run government media office.
But Thursday, in response to U.S. doubts over its figures, the ministry released a 212-page report listing every Palestinian killed in the war so far, including their names, ID numbers, ages and gender. A copy of the report shared with the AP names 6,747 Palestinians and says an additional 281 bodies have not yet been identified. The list did not provide a breakdown by location.
Video below: Massachusetts father describes quest for water in Gaza
The ministry never distinguishes between civilians and combatants. That becomes clearer after the dust settles, when the U.N. and rights groups investigate and militant groups offer a tally of members killed. The Israeli military also conducts post-war investigations.
The Health Ministry doesn't report how Palestinians were killed, whether from Israeli airstrikes and artillery barrages or other means, like errant Palestinian rocket fire. It describes all casualties as victims of 바카라 게임 웹사이트Israeli aggression.바카라 게임 웹사이트
That lack of transparency has drawn criticism.
바카라 게임 웹사이트When the Hamas health agency comes out with the numbers, take it with a pinch of salt,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, Israeli military spokesman, said in a briefing Thursday. But he repeatedly declined to offer any alternative number of Palestinian casualties.
Israel says more than 1,400 civilians and soldiers were killed and over 200 hostages seized when Hamas invaded Israel. The army has identified 309 of those killed as soldiers so far.
Who works in the ministry?
Hamas, as Gaza's ruling authority, exerts control over the Health Ministry. But it's different than political and security agencies that Hamas runs.
The Palestinian Authority, which controlled Gaza before Hamas overran the area in 2007, retains power over health and education services in Gaza, though it's based in the occupied West Bank. The ministry is a mix of recent Hamas hires and older civil servants affiliated with the secular nationalist Fatah party, officials say.
The Fatah-dominated authority that administers Palestinian cities in the Israeli-occupied West Bank has its own health ministry in Ramallah, which still provides medical equipment to Gaza, pays Health Ministry salaries and handles patient transfers from the blockaded enclave to Israeli hospitals.
Health Minister Mai al-Kaila in Ramallah oversees the parallel ministries, which receive the same data from hospitals. Her deputy is based in Gaza.
The Ramallah ministry said it trusts casualty figures from partners in Gaza, and it takes longer to publish figures because it tries to confirm numbers with its own Gaza staff.
Hamas tightly controls access to information and runs the government media office that offers details on Israeli airstrikes. But employees of the Health Ministry insist Hamas doesn바카라 게임 웹사이트t dictate casualty figures.
바카라 게임 웹사이트Hamas is one of the factions. Some of us are aligned with Fatah, some are independent,바카라 게임 웹사이트 said Ahmed al-Kahlot, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza. 바카라 게임 웹사이트More than anything, we are medical professionals.바카라 게임 웹사이트
What is the track record from past wars?
Throughout four wars and numerous bloody skirmishes between Israel and Hamas, U.N. agencies have cited the Health Ministry바카라 게임 웹사이트s death tolls in regular reports. The International Committee of the Red Cross and Palestinian Red Crescent also use the numbers.
In the aftermath of war, the U.N. humanitarian office has published final death tolls based on its own research into medical records.
In all cases the U.N.'s counts have largely been consistent with the Gaza Health Ministry's, with small discrepancies.
바카라 게임 웹사이트 2008 war: The ministry reported 1,440 Palestinians killed; the U.N. reported 1,385.
바카라 게임 웹사이트 2014 war: The ministry reported 2,310 Palestinians killed; the U.N. reported 2,251.
바카라 게임 웹사이트 2021 war: The ministry reported 260 Palestinians killed; the U.N. reported 256.
While Israel and the Palestinians disagree over the numbers of militants versus civilians killed in past wars, Israel바카라 게임 웹사이트s accounts of Palestinian casualties have come close to the Gaza ministry바카라 게임 웹사이트s. For instance, Israel바카라 게임 웹사이트s Foreign Ministry said the 2014 war killed 2,125 Palestinians 바카라 게임 웹사이트 just a bit lower than the ministry바카라 게임 웹사이트s toll.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel has killed 바카라 게임 웹사이트thousands바카라 게임 웹사이트 of militants in the current war, without offering evidence or precise numbers.
International news agencies, including AP, as well as humanitarian workers and rights groups, have used the ministry바카라 게임 웹사이트s numbers when independent verification is impossible.
바카라 게임 웹사이트These figures are professionally done and have proven to be reliable,바카라 게임 웹사이트 said Omar Shakir, Human Rights Watch바카라 게임 웹사이트s Israel and Palestine director, adding he remained 바카라 게임 웹사이트cognizant of different blind spots and weaknesses바카라 게임 웹사이트 such as the failure to distinguish between civilians and combatants.
What about the hospital blast?
Less than an hour after images of the explosion surfaced on social media, the ministry reported that 200 to 300 people had been killed at al-Ahli Hospital. A half-hour later, the ministry put that toll at a staggering 500. The next day, it revised the number down to 471, without releasing details.
Western intelligence agencies said they believed the toll was considerably lower.
U.S. President Joe Biden said he had 바카라 게임 웹사이트no confidence바카라 게임 웹사이트 in the accuracy of the ministry바카라 게임 웹사이트s reporting. However, the U.S. government바카라 게임 웹사이트s annual human rights assessments from the region frequently cite the Gaza ministry.
Gaza바카라 게임 웹사이트s Health Ministry stands by the 471 figure and includes it in the total death toll. When asked about conflicting accounts, authorities emphasize the difficulties of their work and vigorously deny any fabrication.
바카라 게임 웹사이트We had a uniquely hard time because the bodies were so dismembered, body parts were everywhere,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Health Ministry official Mehdat Abbas said.