186,000 Deaths

 

That is not my counting, that is from the prestigious medical journal The Lancet, and it is taking into account the ongoing effects of the devastation that has already happened.

I have had some complaints on my blog at times over the last few months because I have highlighted the terrible crime that Israel is perpetrating against the Palestinian people in the war in Gaza. One such complaint is that I was using biased figures.

I said in a previous blog post:

“I was meditating on this question this morning: why can’t many Christians see obvious evil?

We see so many examples of this. A few years ago, in an American election year involving the most controversial President in modern United States history, a pandemic was used as an excuse to lock people in their homes, shut down economies and movement of people, place limits on how U.S. elections could function, and eventually coerce hundreds of millions of people around the world to take an experimental medical treatment most people did not want, and certainly most people did not need, and which large companies profited from greatly. This had so many stamps of evil all over it that to many of us were so clear, but to many more Christians they not only did not see, they supported it, and even fought against those who called it out. To this day many Christians refuse to see the coercive evil they supported and was right in front of them.

But an even more pertinent example now is the massacre of civilians happening in Gaza as I write this article. This has all the hallmarks of evil all over it. Some Christians will immediately jump in and say right now, “Woah, Woah!! Why are you supporting Hamas?” Which just shows how blinded people are. Defending innocent civilians caught up in collective punishment is not supporting Hamas. Bombing an entire civilian city to rubble, displacing over two million people, and killing tens of thousands of civilians is not justice, it is not a proportionate response, and has all the hallmarks of evil all over it. Over 39,000 civilians are confirmed dead, 14,622 of these are children, 8,986 are women, 73,300 are injured, which includes maiming and other cruel injuries, among many more atrocities. These are just the confirmed numbers with thousands more believed dead under the rubble caused by the IDF campaign. Just because someone responds to evil (the Hamas attack) does not mean they are good. As Paul would tell us do not respond to evil with evil, but instead do what is honourable or good (Rom. 12:17). In no impartial eyes is what Israel is doing in the category of good. But thousands of Australian Christians are standing with Israel, and crying out against criticism of Israel, at a time when Israel is committing great evil. Yes Hamas did evil, but two wrongs do not make a right. No honest person would say Hamas should not be brought to justice for their crimes, but that is not what is happening. Not even close.

So why can’t so many Christians see the obvious evil that is happening?[1]

If you want to hear my full answer for why so many Christians cannot see the obvious evil happening I recommend you read the whole linked post. To summarize, it is because they have been caught up in a false religious ideology which mischaracterizes the nation of Israel in the world today as the people of God from the Old Testament. Once you make this category error it leads to a host of other errors and up becomes down and down becomes up, and evil becomes good. But as I said I address that in a previous post.

The main thing people took issue with in this post were the numbers I provided from Euro-Med monitor,

“Over 39,000 civilians are confirmed dead, 14,622 of these are children, 8,986 are women, 73,300 are injured, which includes maiming and other cruel injuries, among many more atrocities. These are just the confirmed numbers with thousands more believed dead under the rubble caused by the IDF campaign.”

As I have said previously Christian Zionists often make two very self-contradictory arguments with the nation of Israel: 1) that they are God’s people and can do whatever they like to claim their land, and 2) But they wouldn’t do that bad thing that witnesses are saying happened… It is an incredible cognitive dissonance, but it is what it is. However, if you do think that way can I ask you to sit down and consider how contradictory those two statements are? You can have your cake, but you can’t have it and eat it too. 

For a variety of reasons people cannot accept what their eyes are showing them regarding the state of the leadership of Israel and what it is calling on its military to unjustly do. What I found interesting though is that there were none, or very negligible theological arguments offered for my case, people simply quibbled over the numbers.

But are the numbers accurate? Well, for one, as I said, they were simply the confirmed numbers, and I shared from a source that is considered relatively reliable. For some, any information that is unfavourable to Israel is simply categorized as from Israel’s enemies. So, there are many people who will not accept any number that is higher than they feel should be acceptable. But still it is good to share from various sources so, in light of those criticisms here is another source from a trusted western organization, the prestigious medical journal The Lancet,

“By June 19, 2024, 37 396 people had been killed in the Gaza Strip since the attack by Hamas and the Israeli invasion in October, 2023, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, as reported by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The Ministry's figures have been contested by the Israeli authorities, although they have been accepted as accurate by Israeli intelligence services, the UN, and WHO. These data are supported by independent analyses, comparing changes in the number of deaths of UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) staff with those reported by the Ministry, which found claims of data fabrication implausible.

Collecting data is becoming increasingly difficult for the Gaza Health Ministry due to the destruction of much of the infrastructure. The Ministry has had to augment its usual reporting, based on people dying in its hospitals or brought in dead, with information from reliable media sources and first responders. This change has inevitably degraded the detailed data recorded previously. Consequently, the Gaza Health Ministry now reports separately the number of unidentified bodies among the total death toll. As of May 10, 2024, 30% of the 35 091 deaths were unidentified.

Some officials and news agencies have used this development, designed to improve data quality, to undermine the veracity of the data. However, the number of reported deaths is likely an underestimate. The non-governmental organisation Airwars undertakes detailed assessments of incidents in the Gaza Strip and often finds that not all names of identifiable victims are included in the Ministry's list. Furthermore, the UN estimates that, by Feb 29, 2024, 35% of buildings in the Gaza Strip had been destroyed, so the number of bodies still buried in the rubble is likely substantial, with estimates of more than 10 000…

… In recent conflicts, such indirect deaths range from three to 15 times the number of direct deaths. Applying a conservative estimate of four indirect deaths per one direct death to the 37 396 deaths reported, it is not implausible to estimate that up to 186 000 or even more deaths could be attributable to the current conflict in Gaza. Using the 2022 Gaza Strip population estimate of 2 375 259, this would translate to 7·9% of the total population in the Gaza Strip. A report from Feb 7, 2024, at the time when the direct death toll was 28 000, estimated that without a ceasefire there would be between 58 260 deaths (without an epidemic or escalation) and 85 750 deaths (if both occurred) by Aug 6, 2024.”[2]

The article then goes on to call for an immediate ceasefire which would be the right move and wis also not likely to happen. Israel and Gaza are locked into this conflict for the foreseeable future, and with the various tit for tat hits between Israel and its other regional enemies it appears this war is only going to escalate, and drag the United States even more in with it.

But the main point, of course, is that those who quibbled over the numbers are just wrong. The numbers are actually far more likely to be considerably higher than the estimate given, because of all the people buried under the rubble, those affected by disease and hunger, and many of the other various evils of siege warfare. I chose to give what is considered by many to be the conservative numbers for good reason. It is of course not uncommon for numbers of deaths in a war to be misreported, inflated, questioned, and flat out denied. The propaganda that has been unleashed since this all began is phenomenal. This is all par for the course though, such is the fog of war. And this is again an estimate, we do not know if or when we will get the full numbers.

But what should be increasingly obvious is that in seeking to use October 7^th as justification for war, rather than police actions and other more reasoned strategies, the IDF has ended up committing great evil. It is becoming more and more obvious to all who are paying any attention. 

Except those who don't want to see it, of course. 

List of References

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[1] https://younggospelminister.blogspot.com/2024/03/why-cant-many-christians-see-obvious.html

[2] Rasha Katib et. al July 05, 2024, “Counting the dead in Gaza: difficult but essential”, https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)01169-3/fulltext