Explainer: Gaza Deaths Reported: The Count of Palestinians Killed During Israel's Campaign

 More than 35,000 people, largely civilians, have been murdered by Israel's ground and aerial campaign in Gaza, according to Palestinian health authorities, and the majority of the 2.3 million residents of the territory have been forced from their homes.When Hamas fighters broke through the border and invaded Israeli neighborhoods on October 7, the war officially started. 

According to Israel, the militants kidnapped 253 people and killed over 1,200 people in Gaza, the majority of them were civilians.This lesson looks at the methodology used to determine the Palestinian death toll, its dependability, the distribution of combatant and civilian casualties, and the claims made by each side.

HEALTH AUTHORITIES IN GAZA HOW DO THEY COUNT THE DEATH TOLL?

 During the initial months of the conflict, the only way to determine the number of deaths was to count the bodies that were brought to hospitals. 

The information contained the names and identifying numbers of the majority of the dead. 

The government also used various strategies as the fighting persisted and fewer morgues and hospitals could remain open. According to a Health Ministry report on May 7, the total toll was 34,844. According to the report, bodies that hospitals reported arriving at morgues were used to count 21,058 of those deaths. Family members had to provide details online, including identifying numbers, in order to register an additional 3,715 fatalities.

HOW DO GAZA HEALTH AUTHORITIES CALCULATE THE DEATH TOLL?

  In the first months of the war, death tolls were calculated entirely from counting bodies that arrived in hospitals and data included names and identity numbers for most of those killed.

  As the conflict ground on, and fewer hospitals and morgues continued to operate