"For many Americans, there might be a temptation to disbelieve the enormity of what has happened in the Gaza Strip. After all, it is a catastrophe funded by our money, made possible by our weapons, condoned by our government and carried out by one of our closest allies. It's little wonder that some want to downplay the damage. Their defense is to cast doubt on the numbers."
"First, let's talk about the numbers. In Gaza, the dead at least 68,229 people, by the latest count have been tallied by the Ministry of Health, which is, like other government services in the enclave, run by Hamas. This has stirred skepticism, to say the least. But experts in counting war dead told me that the ministry's accounting has been unusually rigorous. It includes not just individual names of people confirmed to have died because of the war but also their ages, their sex and, crucially, easily validated identification numbers."
Gaza endured massive destruction and loss of life amid two years of relentless violence, funded by U.S. money and enabled by U.S. weapons and policy. Some Americans seek to minimize the scale by questioning casualty figures or claiming most of the dead were combatants rather than civilians. A fragile ceasefire allowed prisoner exchanges and reunions, but survivors face apocalyptic devastation. Official tallies record at least 68,229 dead, compiled by the Hamas-run Ministry of Health. Experts in wartime mortality assessment report that the ministry's accounting has been unusually rigorous, including names, ages, sex and validated identification numbers.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
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