The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza recently said they agree with a study published in The Lancet. This study says that way more people died in Gaza during the first nine months of the fighting with Israel than the Ministry first reported. The study found about 40% more deaths than the official numbers. This is because the Ministry only counts people who died in hospitals.
The Gaza Government Media office says the Ministry’s way of counting deaths is why there’s a difference. They only count deaths that happen in hospitals. A director at the health ministry, Dr. Munir al-Bursh, said they mostly agree with the study from The Lancet. They’re acknowledging that the study’s way of counting deaths is likely more complete.
This study in The Lancet shows that using only hospital data to count deaths in war isn’t enough. Many people may die in places other than hospitals. This means getting accurate death numbers in conflict zones can be very hard especially when things are disrupted.