Categories: World

Israel releases new Gaza civilian death toll, says Hamas’ numbers are ‘fake and fabricated’

close Video

Israel releases new Gaza civilian death toll

For the first time, Israel has announced how many civilians it believes have been killed during the war against Hamas in Gaza. (Credit: Government Press Office)

Israel for the first time has released its estimated civilian death toll in Gaza, saying that 16,000 have been killed in the war that began on Oct. 7 instead of the approximately 35,000 that the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’ Ministry of Health is claiming. 

Israel government spokesperson Avi Hyman tells Fox News that for 221 days, his country has been “condemned globally because of a fake and fabricated civilian death toll created and disseminated by Hamas.  

“The United Nations has rubber-stamped these Hamas numbers and become a Hamas newswire to the world,” he said. “In reality, Israel is setting the new gold standard for urban warfare with what appears to be the lowest civilian to combatant casualty ratios in history.” 

On Monday, Hyman, citing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said in a video that “we believe we have killed in excess of 14,000 terrorists and sadly around 16,000 civilians” inside the Gaza Strip. 

TURKEY’S ERDOGAN DEFENDS HAMAS, CLAIMS MORE THAN 1,000 MEMBERS ARE AT HIS COUNTRY’S HOSPITALS 

People move past destroyed buildings along a street in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, May 14. (AFP/Getty Images)

“We would expect everyone to now take these figures as a genuine estimate from a free democratic country that fights in strict accordance with the laws of armed conflict in one of the most challenging urban warfare scenarios in history,” he added. “Let me make it clear, every civilian casualty is a tragedy. That would not have happened if Hamas hadn’t insisted on using their own people as human shields.” 

Hyman also said the figures coming from Hamas “spits in the face of our brave heroes who have paid the ultimate price to fight this just and moral war.” 

WHITE HOUSE WALKS DIPLOMATIC TIGHTROPE ON ISRAEL WITH CONTRADICTORY MESSAGING 

An Israeli mobile artillery unit fires a shell from southern Israel towards the Gaza Strip in December 2023. (AP/Ohad Zwigenberg)

The Israeli Defense Forces’ own losses in the conflict have risen to 620, he said. 

Israel’s new estimates come after the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs revised its data pertaining to the number of women and children who have died in the war. 

Smoke rises following Israeli airstrikes on the Jabalia region in the Gaza Strip on Monday, May 13. (Dawoud Abo Alkas/Anadolu via Getty Images)

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

However, the World Health Organization on Tuesday said there is “nothing wrong” with the numbers being provided by the Hamas-led Gaza Ministry of Health, according to Reuters. 

Greg Norman is a reporter at Fox News Digital.

Share

Recent Posts

Massive European power outage blamed on solar plant breakdowns

close Video Supplies given to people stuck in Madrid train station during power outage Authorities…

8 minutes ago

Suspect in Noem purse snatching accused of similar crime in NY weeks before

close Video Man arrested in theft of DHS chief Kristi Noem Noems purse, which contained…

18 minutes ago

Venezuelan illegal alien, alleged Tren de Aragua leader in California, arrested on immigration charges

close Video ICE attempts to remove all of Tren de Aragua members from US soil…

18 minutes ago

Luigi Mangione prosecutors fire back at suspected assassin’s complaints over arrest: ‘Reasonable suspicion’

close Video Pam Bondi has ‘every right’ to seek death penalty in Luigi Mangione case,…

18 minutes ago

Promises made, promises kept: How Trump’s first 100 days stack up against Inauguration Day pledges

President Donald Trump delivered his second Inauguration Day speech on Jan. 20, when he previewed…

28 minutes ago

100 days of injunctions, trials and ‘Teflon Don’: Trump second term meets its biggest tests in court

President Donald Trump has spent the first 100 days of his second White House term…

28 minutes ago