It is a challenge for the health ministry of the Hamas-run territory to count the dead since much of Gaza has been destroyed by 10 months of fighting and deaths are approaching 40,000.
In the early part of the war, US President Joe Biden, like Israel, doubted that daily figures put out by the ministry were believable.
However, several United Nations agencies in Gaza are of the view that they contain genuine numbers and these numbers have been regularly quoted by international bodies.
Data collection
Two correspondents witnessed health facilities enter deaths in the ministry’s database.
Gaza health officials first identify those who died either through visual recognition from a relative or friend or by finding personal items belonging to them.
The information about such deceased person is entered into digital systems kept in this ministry where people indicate their names gender date of birth as well as ID number among other relevant details which exist at such time when they die.
The bodies that cannot be identified due to excessive damage on them or there is no one claiming it for burial are registered with numbers with available details noted down.
These may include any personal items which can help with identification later on or even a physical mark like a mole if found on a body part that could be significantly exposed (such as face) with an intention of making sure that it would ease identification process in future. They could also take pictures of some distinguishing marks if necessary.
Central registry
In several statements issued by Gaza’s Health Ministry regarding its death toll counts’ assembling processes…
Immediately after being pronounced dead, “personal information and identity number” (from each Palestinian dying during this conflict) are stored within databases at public hospitals directly supervised by the Hamas government ruling over this area according to hospital records.
‘Then these data are forwarded from time to time within 24 hours but depending on hospitals’ ability; thus, every patient dying in private clinics must appear on his hospitalization form & sent back here upon submission before final 24hrs end so that it enters main office.
According to the same statement, afterwords, they should be reviewed by “information centre” maintained by the ministry and checked for duplications or any other errors before finally being saved in their separate file.
Palestinian national authority encourages people living in Gaza to communicate information about their relatives who have died through a special site on governmental servers; this data is used by the ministry to check personal details.
The ministry serves under both the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority which supervises its activities as well as Hamas-led government in Gaza which has overall command of these civil servants.
‘High Correlation’
Airways, a charity organization that exists only during wars affecting civilians, examined around 3k records recorded for dead persons finding out “a strong link” between what had been stated on internet sites run by Palestinians along with its own database where more than 75% of all names from Internet lists are found in official ones too.
The destruction of health facilities due to warfare made figures from the ministry less accurate according to a study conducted by Airways NGO specializing in war effects upon civilians; while comparing 3000 entries posted on social media sites they noticed “high correlation” with those published officially so that majority represented individuals’ names were also contained within the list provided by MoH.
For example, at Naser hospital located in southern part of Gaza Strip among very few functioning till now just fifty out four hundred computers work left said it’s director Atef al-Hout when interviewed Parami News journalists.
But Israeli authorities always complain that combatant and non-combatant deaths aren’t distinguished here yet neither IDF nor Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deny such large numbers.
Nearly 70 percent of these deaths, more than 40,000 according to the Hamas government pressoffice, are believed by this office to have been women (about 11,000) and children (not less than 16,300).
For instance, UN agencies including Palestinian refugees body UNRWA regard the ministry’s figures as credible.
“During the previous cycles of conflict in Gaza Strip—five-six such instances before—these figures were seen as reliable”, last October Philippe Lazzarini from this agency said.
The Lancet study estimated that about 186,000 lives could be linked to war in Gaza since it started causing a humanitarian crisis.
The Hamas attack of October 7th which was responsible for the death of at least 1198 people including most civilians based on Israeli official figures according to Parami News marked off the beginning of Gaza war.
