Comparing Gaza Death Counts to Those in Other Wars? Don’t.

The Wall Street Journal: The challenges in accurately counting casualties in conflicts like the war in Gaza and compares it with other wars. Casualty counts are often incorrect and cannot be easily compared between conflicts. Dr. Amir Khorram-Manesh, a lecturer in surgery and disaster medicine, notes that true estimates during conflicts are usually inaccurate due to the ‘fog of war’. Reasons for this include belligerents manipulating data for propaganda, difficulties in accessing conflict zones, and the tendency to either underreport or inflate numbers for various motives.

For instance, the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza reports over 10,000 deaths for a month, mostly women and children, without distinguishing between civilians and militants. The U.S. questions these figures due to Hamas’s influence. Although, in 2014, the Palestinian Health Ministry said 2,310 people died during a 50-day war between Israel and Hamas. The U.N.’s verification process resulted in a similar estimate: 2,251.

Comparing with other conflicts, the U.N. estimated 9,806 civilian deaths in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in 2022. However, this number is likely incomplete as it excludes certain key battlegrounds now under Russian control. Similarly, in Syria, the U.N. estimated 306,000 civilian deaths from 2011 to 2021, and in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, deaths are estimated between 311,000 and 808,000, with limited verification due to restricted access.

The key takeaway is that while counting casualties is essential, the focus should be on the tragedy of innocent civilian deaths in any conflict, rather than on the accuracy of the numbers themselves.

The entire article can be read at the link Comparing Gaza Death Counts to Those in Other Wars? Don’t. – WSJ