"The National Post neglected to mention that the new figures included in the UN brief represent fully identified casualties, not a revision or reduction of previous estimates.Their headline is false and must be changed. The claims in the article that reflect this problematic headline also require clarification"
May 22nd, 2024
To:
Rob Roberts, National Post
Ari Blaff, National Post
Dear Rob Roberts and Ari Blaff,
I am writing to express concern about the article written by Ari Blaff titled "United Nations halves estimate of women and children killed in Gaza," published on May 12, 2024. I am confident that this article contains numerous factual inaccuracies and misrepresentations that violate journalistic standards and ethics.
First, the headline itself is misleading. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) did not “halve” its estimate, as you write. It recategorized its reporting on casualties. On May 6, 2024, OCHA’s “Hostilities in the Gaza Strip and Israel” report listed 34,735 Palestinian fatalities according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health (MoH). It stated that >9,500 women and >14,500 were “reported fatalities” and cite Gaza’s Government Media Office (GMO) as its source. On May 8, 2024, OCHA’s next report claimed an increase in fatalities, to 34,844, citing the MoH again. However, when they reported statistics on women and children in the May 8 report, they changed the method of reporting these numbers. On May 8 it only included the “identified” fatalities according to MoH. That changed the numbers of women to 4,959 women and 7,797 children. The estimate was not “halved” but rather the category changed and this resulted in a different number. It is disingenuine at best and an outright lie at worst to claim that the UN halved its estimate of women and children killed in Gaza. The National Post neglected to mention that the new figures included in the UN brief represent fully identified casualties, not a revision or reduction of previous estimates. This headline is false and must be changed. The claims in the article that reflect this problematic headline also require clarification.
The article then claims that “According to the Times of Israel, the latest revision would bring the ratio of combatants to civilians killed in the conflict to nearly 1:1.” However, this is not the claim made by the Times of Israel. The Times of Israel does say that 52% of the identified dead are women (20%) and children (32%), but 8% of the identified dead are elderly people according to OCHA. So the actual percentage of civilian deaths, excluding adult men, is still 60%. As such, the 1:1 ratio is completely inaccurate.
It is thus necessary to correct the 1:1 ratio claim.
Sincerely,
Rose Mardikian
Media Analyst, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East