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Airwars investigation finds Gaza death toll ‘largely reliable’
An investigation by the UK-based watchdog suggests that the Palestinian Health Ministry death toll data is “largely reliable”.
Airwars used open-source monitoring to independently identify nearly 3,000 names of civilians killed in the first 17 days of the war.
While evidence suggests that the ministry’s figures have become less accurate after the Israeli army decimated the Strip’s health infrastructure, it adds to the growing consensus that the ministry’s figures are broadly reliable, Mike Spagat, a professor specialised in casualty figures at Royal Holloway, University of London, told Airwars.
“This painstaking research provides strong validation for both the first Ministry of Health list of the dead and the reliability of social media posts from Palestinians collected by Airwars covering the same period,” Spagat said. “Neither list is complete but the 75 percent matching rate demonstrates convincingly that both capture a large fraction of the underlying reality.”
NEW: Airwars investigation documents where and how 3,000 civilians were killed in the first weeks of the war in Gaza.
The findings show the initial Palestinian Ministry of Health death toll to be largely reliable.https://t.co/gbbPXPAp9i
— Airwars (@airwars) July 24, 2024
The daily death toll provided by Palestinian authorities in Gaza was met with scepticism at the start of the war by Western officials, including US President Joe Biden. But as the conflict progressed its figures have broadly been accepted. UN officials have noted that data provided by Gaza’s Health Ministry from previous rounds of fighting were accurate.
Questions have now rather shifted on the number of unaccounted dead. Earlier in July, a Lancet study said the true death toll could reach more than 186,000 considering the thousands of people buried under rubble and indirect deaths due to the destruction of health facilities, food distribution systems and other public infrastructure.
For first time, EU organises medical evacuation for Gaza children
The European Union says it coordinated medical evacuations from Egypt to Spain for 16 Palestinian children from Gaza and their family members for the first time.
The operation was financially and operationally supported by the EU Civil Protection Mechanism in coordination with the World Health Organization and the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, the European Commission said in a statement.
So far Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Romania, Slovakia and Spain have offered assistance for medical evacuations, including treatment for patients.
Israeli delegation in Egypt for Qatar ceasefire talks
An Israeli delegation is heading to Cairo for negations with Egyptian officials. According to Egyptian sources, the talks will focus on the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza and the Philadelphi Corridor along the border.
On Thursday, officials from Egypt, Israel, the United States and Qatar will meet in Doha with the aim of resuming talks for a proposed three-phase ceasefire to end the war on Gaza, according to Lebanon’s Al-Akhbar newspaper, which is close to Hezbollah.
It added that Egyptian and Qatari mediators see the first phase of the deal as close, but they are concerned that Netanyahu might destroy a possible deal in the final hours.
A spokesperson for Netanyahu’s office confirmed a delegation is expected in Cairo.
