The article criticizes how major media outlets reported on the alleged death toll in Gaza, highlighting a report from Haaretz that claimed the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) accepted a figure of 70,000 Palestinian deaths. This report was quickly seized upon by journalists and commentators, despite the IDF’s subsequent denial and assertion that the figure did not reflect official data. The article emphasizes that the real debate around the death toll concerns the sources’ credibility and the balance of civilian versus combatant deaths, rather than the mere acknowledgment of casualty numbers.
It asserts that the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry (GHM) provided a flawed count, misclassifying many casualties and failing to distinctively identify combatants. Research showed that a vast majority of media reports did not differentiate between combatant and civilian deaths, often uncritically accepting Hamas’s figures. Additionally, the article details past inaccuracies in Hamas’s casualty lists, including inflated numbers and misleading entries.
The piece calls out the media for ignoring evidence of Hamas’s misinformation while being quick to accept its claims. It stresses the importance of presenting reliable data and holding all parties accountable, arguing that the deaths in Gaza should be remembered truthfully, rather than manipulated in a narrative shaped by propaganda.
Ultimately, the author, Andrew Fox, condemns the media’s self-congratulatory response to the Haaretz report while failing to engage with the complexities surrounding the death toll, which reflects a larger issue of responsible reporting amidst war-related misinformation.
