We ask that Burlington Today and the Associated Press apply consistent sourcing treatment to both death tolls, and note the Health Ministry's place within the Hamas-led government only where it bears materially on the story reported.
To the Associated Press Newsroom, Ms. Frankel and Mr. Magdy,
Dear Ms. Frankel and Mr. Magdy,
I'm writing to you on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME, https://www.cjpme.org) to express our concerns regarding the article "Israeli military launches criminal probes into killings of Hind Rajab and Palestinian paramedics," published by The Associated Press on August 19, 2026 and carried by BurlingtonToday. Our concerns relate to the handling of casualty figures in the closing section, "The war's toll keeps growing."
First, the article treats the same source inconsistently, and the two death tolls unevenly. Earlier in the piece, the figure of more than 73,000 killed is attributed to "the territory's Health Ministry," without qualification. In the closing section, the ministry is cited again for the 1,270 killed since the October ceasefire, and is this time identified as "part of the Hamas-led government" immediately before the same passage notes that its records are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. The article demonstrates in its own copy that the qualifier is not needed for readers to understand the attribution.
The unevenness is compounded by what precedes it. The 1,200 people killed in southern Israel on October 7, 2023 are reported as established fact, with no attribution. The Palestinian figure that follows carries both an attribution and a governance caveat.
While we recognize this report originates from The Associated Press, BurlingtonToday is ultimately responsible for the content it publishes on its platform and the framing presented to its local audience.
As a Canadian news outlet, BurlingtonToday should also uphold the journalistic standards recognized across Canadian media. This includes the guidance set out by the CBC Ombudsman regarding the attribution of health agencies and the avoidance of language that implies collective association
CBC's Ombudsman reviewed this practice in December 2024 and encouraged journalists to use the phrase "Hamas-run" as sparingly as possible, and only where relevant to the story at hand, noting that constant repetition risks leaving audiences with the impression that Palestinians in Gaza are broadly connected to Hamas.¹ This story concerns Israeli criminal investigations into the killing of a five-year-old girl, her family, and 15 paramedics. Who administers the Health Ministry has no bearing on it.
We ask that Burlington Today and the Associated Press apply consistent sourcing treatment to both death tolls, and note the Health Ministry's place within the Hamas-led government only where it bears materially on the story reported.
Second, the absence of a civilian-combatant breakdown is positioned as a reason for doubt. Placed directly after the Hamas qualifier, the observation reads as further grounds for suspicion. It is instead a limitation on what the dataset records, and says nothing about whether the total is sound. It is also a question other bodies have taken up: Airwars, among others, has developed casualty recording methodologies and published findings supporting the conclusion that most of those killed in Gaza have been civilians.²
We ask that Burlington Today and the Associated Press identify the missing breakdown as a limitation of the dataset rather than an indication of unreliability, and point readers to the independent assessments that have addressed it.
The article is in other respects carefully reported, and that standard should extend to the casualty figures.
Thank you for considering these changes.
Sincerely,
Meghan Raza
Media Advocate, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East