A new study suggests the death toll in Gaza from the conflict between Hamas and Israel is probably way higher than the numbers we’ve been hearing. Researchers looked at data from the first nine months of the fighting using a special statistical method. They figured a lot of deaths weren’t officially reported because the healthcare system in Gaza was so messed up during that time.
The study says the official Palestinian count of deaths was likely about 40% too low. The researchers used a method to try to catch all the unreported deaths since not everyone is counted officially. This approach is a way to estimate populations when you can’t do a full count of everyone. The conflict made it super hard to keep track of anything with all the damage to hospitals.
The study’s results show there could have been over 64000 deaths related to the conflict in just those first nine months. It really shows how hard it is to know the true cost of war when the health system is struggling and getting good data is next to impossible. The study itself was done by researchers from different countries who looked at what information was available.