In the name of accurate, consistent, and fair reporting, I kindly ask that the article be edited to add that most of Palestinians killed by Israel are civilians, so as not to downplay Israel’s total disregard for international humanitarian law in its indiscriminate bombing of Palestinians in Gaza.
To the Toronto Star and Associated Press Newsrooms,
I am writing on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (www.cjpme.org) regarding your recent article titled: “Netanyahu says the announced start of Gaza ceasefire’s next phase is a ‘declarative move’.”
The article states that “those casualties, which UNICEF said include more than 100 children, are among the 71,441 Palestinians killed since the start of Israel’s offensive, according to the ministry, which does not say how many were fighters or civilians.”
For over a year, the standard Associated Press boilerplate has acknowledged that while the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, it has consistently reported that the majority of Palestinians killed by Israel are women and children.
- For example, in this article, AP has previously specified that “the Gaza Health Ministry doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants, but has said that women and children make up more than half the 55,000 dead.”
- In another instance, AP stated that “Gaza’s health ministry doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, but it says women and children have made up around two-thirds of those killed.”
Given this established precedent, it is unclear why AP, and by extension the Toronto Star, has reverted to this misleading framing.
Not only is the claim that the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza “does not differentiate between fighters and civilians” misleading, it is also not entirely accurate. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) uses the Gaza Ministry of Health (MoH) data in its regular updates published online which does not explicitly distinguish between fighters and civilians, but categorizes fatalities by demographic groups (men, children, women, and the elderly).
The chart below is taken from the January 14, 2025 UNOCHA update on the casualties in Gaza:
As the data shows, the majority of Palestinians killed in Gaza by Israel are women, children, and the elderly. In light of this, the qualification used in your article is misleading and represents a departure from AP’s previous reporting practice.
In the name of accurate, consistent, and fair reporting, I kindly ask that the article be edited to add that most of Palestinians killed by Israel are civilians, so as not to downplay Israel’s total disregard for international humanitarian law in its indiscriminate bombing of Palestinians in Gaza.
Lynn Naji
Media Analyst
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East