## Methodologies - Central collection system - GMoH primary means of counting deaths is through the hospital and morgue system (aka central collection system) - The system has continued to function throughout the current war, but experienced sharply reduced capacity in the early months before being gradually rebuilt - [Family notifications](https://news.sky.com/story/hundreds-of-names-removed-from-official-gaza-death-list-13341928) - Allows for people to report family deaths into an online portal dating to January 2024 - Initially added to the death toll without vetting until October 2024 - Head of statistics team, Zaher Al Wahidi claimed that unvetted names were removed and then reviewed through a judicial investigation before being added back to the toll - "We realised that a lot of people \[submitted via the form] died a natural death. Maybe they were near an explosion and they had a heart attack, or \[living in destroyed] houses caused them pneumonia or hypothermia. All these cases we don't \[attribute to] the war." - Media reports - Used between November 2023 and July 2024, then downscaled and eliminated by Dec 2024 - Dec 2024 - May 2025 increases in the death toll following judicial reviews - [Jan 11th 2025](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6227): 499 deaths added - [Feb 8th, 2025](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6283): 572 added - [Mar 19th, 2025](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6366): 436 added (not all definitely from the reviews?) - [Mar 23rd, 2025](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6377): 233 added - [April 27th, 2025](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6495): 697 added ## Institutions - Gaza Ministry of Health - The only one tasked with collecting data on casualties in Gaza - Information published through the health information unit, headed by Zaher al-Wahidi - Claimed 70%+ women and children killed by combining their own data with the GMO until 23/03/2024 ([p. 1](https://dn721302.ca.archive.org/0/items/moh-gaza-health-sector-emergency-reports/MOH%20-%20Gaza%20-%203-23.pdf)) - similar claim on [March 8th](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/7088) - Stopped using 70% figure on 27/03/2024 ([p. 1](https://dn721302.ca.archive.org/0/items/moh-gaza-health-sector-emergency-reports/MOH%20-%20Gaza%20-%203-27.pdf)), instead simply said "the majority" were women and children - [Dashboard](https://archive.org/details/moh-dashboard-2-23-25/MOH%20Dashboard%20-%201-22-25/) of death tolls by month - Archive of [emergency reports](https://bit.ly/42mDwhV) - [Additions and removals](https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/22472479/) from death toll lists - Government Media Office - Previously managed reporters and other media but became a "sort of Hamas front office" after Oct 7th - Palestinian Authority Health Ministry - Based in Ramallah - [Released daily reports](https://archive.org/details/moh-ramallah-reports/) from Oct 2023 to Jan 2025 - UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) - Relays claims from the GMoH - Used to relay GMO claims from [Nov 2023](https://www.ochaopt.org/content/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-flash-update-51) - [Jan 2024](https://www.ochaopt.org/content/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-flash-update-86) and [March](https://www.ochaopt.org/content/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-flash-update-137)-[May](https://www.ochaopt.org/content/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-flash-update-165) 2024 - Continued to report various GMO claims through to the [end](https://www.ochaopt.org/content/humanitarian-situation-update-247-gaza-strip) of 2024 ## Removals - [April 5th, 2025](https://news.sky.com/story/hundreds-of-names-removed-from-official-gaza-death-list-13341928): 1,852 names removed from full list of fatalities since October - 97% of removals were of names submitted through the online portal - Zaher al Wahidi attributes these to natural deaths, false claims (due to government financial incentives), sickness, imprisonment, errors in record keeping - Mentions complaints from people who ended up on the list despite being alive - April 5th - 7th: ~419 family reported deaths removed - Several hundred family reported deaths rescinded - April 5th ([p. 7](https://archive.org/details/moh-gaza-health-sector-emergency-reports/MOH%20-%20Gaza%20-%204-5/page/n7/mode/1up)): 2,786 family reports ; 21,730 total - April 7th ([p. 7](https://archive.org/details/moh-gaza-health-sector-emergency-reports/MOH%20-%20Gaza%20-%204-7/page/n7/mode/1up)): 2,367 family reports ; 21,317 total ## Changes during the Jan 2025 ceasefire - GMoH daily reports of recovered bodies during the Jan 2025 ceasefire (863 recovered) - [20/01](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6248) - 62 - [21/01](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6251) - 68 - [22/01](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6253) - 53 - [23/01](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6254) - 120 - [26/01](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6255) - 14 - [27/01](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6258) - 9 - [28/01](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6261) - 37 - [29/01](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6262) - 59 - [30/01](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6264) - 42 - [01/02](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6267) - 24 - [02/02](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6269) - 9 - [03/02](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6274) - 18 - [04/02](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6277) - 20 - [05/02](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6278) - 8 - [06/02](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6280) - 28 - [08/02](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6283) - 22 - [09/02](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6287) - 7 - [10/02](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6289) - 14 - [11/02](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6291) - 8 - [12/02](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6296) - 2 - [13/02](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6297) - 14 - [16/02](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6299) - 6 - [17/02](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6301) - 9 - [18/02](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6303) - 6 - [19/02](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6305) - 2 - [20/02](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6306) - 22 - [22/02](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6310) - 7 - [24/02](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6313) - 5 - [25/02](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6318) - 1 - [27/02](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6320) - 19 - [01/03](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6323) - 21 - [03/03](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6325) - 4 - [04/03](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6330) - 7 - [05/03](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6331) - 30 - [06/03](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6332) - 6 - [08/03](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6335) - 1 - [10/03](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6337) - 5 - [11/03](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6342) - 32 - [12/03](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6346) - 5 - [13/03](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6347) - 7 - [15/03](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6352) - 12 - [16/03](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6353) - 15 - [17/03](https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6355) - 3 ## Comparing IDF and GMoH claims - [Halevi](https://www.mako.co.il/news-military/2025_q1/Article-fcc20b1dfa98491026.htm) claims just under 20,000 Hamas and 3,000 other militants killed up to the Jan 2025 ceasefire - Similar [claim](https://besacenter.org/the-gaza-terror-offensive-october-7-8-2023/) from BESA - Earlier numbers - [Sept 2024](https://www.israelhayom.com/2024/09/16/idf-confirms-10000-hamas-terrorists-killed-in-gaza/): 17,000 killed (10,000 conclusively identified) - [IDF](https://www.idf.il/%d7%90%d7%aa%d7%a8%d7%99-%d7%99%d7%97%d7%99%d7%93%d7%95%d7%aa/%d7%a9%d7%a0%d7%aa%d7%99%d7%99%d7%9d-%d7%9c%d7%9e%d7%9c%d7%97%d7%9e%d7%aa-%d7%97%d7%a8%d7%91%d7%95%d7%aa-%d7%91%d7%a8%d7%96%d7%9c/%d7%93%d7%95%d7%97-%d7%94%d7%a9%d7%a7%d7%99%d7%a4%d7%95%d7%aa-%d7%a9%d7%a0%d7%94-%d7%9c%d7%9e%d7%9c%d7%97%d7%9e%d7%94/%d7%97%d7%99%d7%a1%d7%95%d7%9c-%d7%9e%d7%97%d7%91%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%9d-%d7%a9%d7%a0%d7%94-%d7%9c%d7%9e%d7%9c%d7%97%d7%9e%d7%94/) page claims 14,000 "high likelihood", 3,000 "medium-low" - Oct 2024: 8,500 killed according to [ACLED](https://acleddata.com/report/after-year-war-hamas-militarily-weakened-far-eliminated) - Jan 2025: [US suggests](https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-intel-figures-show-hamas-has-recruited-up-to-15000-new-fighters-during-gaza-war/) under 15,000 Hamas killed - Based on claim that the group had recruited 10-15,000 fighters, [almost as many as they had lost](https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/commentary/transcript/us-secretary-of-state-antony-blinken-on-the-biden-record-in-the-middle-east-and-what-comes-next/) ## Misc - Demographic breakdowns - Men 18-45 were 2.85 times more likely to be killed than women in Gaza (as of May 11, 2025) - In Kosovo, men were 8.9 times more likely to die from war-related trauma than women ([p. 14](https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/57e53f14-19b1-42bb-9540-f5b4cbfe2dba/Armed%20Conflict%20Deaths%20Disaggregated%20by%20Gender.pdf?inline=true)) - GMO still being cited by PA institutions - [March 23rd, 2025 press release](https://t.me/mediagovps/3529) - Claims 17,954 children killed - [Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics](https://www.pcbs.gov.ps/Downloads/book2715.pdf) - Claims 17,954 children killed in Gaza (p. 13) - [Ministry of Education and Higher Education](https://t.me/moe_ps/3122) - Claims "over 17,000 children killed" - [Ministry of Social Development](https://t.me/mosdPalestine/71) - Palestinian Information Centre - Quoting Dr. Munir Al-Bursh, Director General of the GMoH, saying 17,954 children and 12,365 women had been killed - This is actually the GMO number being falsely attributed to him - 3 days earlier, Munir had [tweeted](https://x.com/Dr_Muneer1/status/1913443724685631691) the Health Ministry's numbers - OCHA randomly dropping GMO references - [Jan 14th, 2025](https://www.ochaopt.org/content/reported-impact-snapshot-gaza-strip-14-january-2025): Cites GMO saying 11,000 people reported missing or under rubble - [Jan 22nd, 2025](): Cites Palestinian Civil Defence saying 10,000 people reported missing or under the rubble - Claim repeated up to [February 4th](https://www.ochaopt.org/content/reported-impact-snapshot-gaza-strip-4-february-2025), then absent from [Feb 11th](https://www.ochaopt.org/content/reported-impact-snapshot-gaza-strip-11-february-2025) onwards - There seems to be no explanation for them ceasing to cite this claim - [GMoH missing persons report form](https://web.archive.org/web/20240427121458/https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScndnMojIJoflfSPTD25uqkZSzUH--G05AMwcbbyJB42bNQcw/viewform) - Includes "under the rubble option" - Hamas [presence](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/08/world/middleeast/hamas-unrwa-schools.html) in schools - Hamas [hiding](https://archive.ph/Xq2Ng) militant deaths ## Takeaways - Undeniably, the GMoH as well as various humanitarian orgs e.g. OCHA amplified dubious information from the GMO for months - particularly regarding the proportion of women and children killed - before quietly changing course around early-mid 2024 - There is still no evidence of deliberate data manipulation by the GMoH and any recorded cases of error seem to be negligible and / or have since been reversed - Epstein mentions research from Kosovo and other conflict areas showing that men are several times more likely to be killed in war than women. However, he could have mentioned that in Kosovo, men were nearly 9 times more likely to be killed, as opposed to only 2.85 times in the current Gaza war - At around the same time the IDF was claiming to have killed 17,000 Hamas militants (14,000 with high confidence), ACLED was only able to confirm 8,500. Of course, open source information is always going to be limited, especially given Hamas' clear tendency to conceal their losses during hostilities - The 2-month ceasefire in Jan 2025 gave the GMoH enough time to recover just over 850 bodies, half of which were confirmed in the first few days. Given that their missing persons report system includes the option of "under the rubble", claims of ~10,000+ bodies still buried and unaccounted for (as asserted by the GMO) may be exaggerated. Certainly, any claims that the true death toll is well into the hundreds of thousands can easily be discarded.