Number of Palestinians killed in Gaza 40 per cent higher than reported, says study
Number of Palestinians killed in Gaza 40 per cent higher than reported, says study
Share:
Researchers say 64,260 are likely dead instead of the estimated 37,877 – and at least 10,000 unrecovered bodies remain buried under rubble. Copy link. twitter. facebook. whatsapp. email. The number of Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip is more than 40 per cent higher than previously reported, according to a new study published in The Lancet.
The authors estimate that some 64,260 people are likely to have died as a result of trauma between 7 October 2023 and 30 June 2024, a 41 per cent increase on the 37,877 deaths estimated by the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza. The figures, calculated by researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), only account for “traumatic deaths” and do not include deaths resulting from food insecurity and starvation, health service disruption and inadequate water and sanitation.
At least 10,000 unrecovered corpses are thought to be buried under the rubble in Gaza, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported in May last year. More than half of deaths, 59 per cent, estimated by the LSHTM researchers occurred among women, children and the elderly, the study said.
The researchers used a statistical method known as “capture-recapture analysis” to estimate the number of traumatic injury deaths. It has also been used to estimate mortality in armed conflicts including Kosovo, Colombia and Sudan. The method uses “multiple data sources (lists) with sufficient identifying information to accurately link records, identify overlapping cases, and infer the true number of cases (deaths), including those not featured within any list, based on statistical models.”.
