Conflict in Gaza: Defense secretary aligns with Hamas in war of numbers over death toll
Recognizing the figures announced by a terrorist group is the latest slight toward Israel, adding to Biden's criticism of Netanyahu.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin testifies during a House Committee on Armed Services hearing to examine the circumstances in the failure to communicate his absence during his recent hospitalization, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on February 29, 2024. - Austin kept US President Joe Biden in the dark about his prostate cancer diagnosis for weeks, while Biden and Congress were not told until days after he was hospitalized on January 1, 2024, for complications from his treatment. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)
United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has accepted the Hamas terrorist group's version of the death toll for the war in Gaza. This Thursday, Feb. 29, Austin echoed the numbers given by the group's propaganda apparatus, according to an AFP report.
Austin reported the death toll to be "over 25 thousand" to a group of legislators when the Department of Defense was asked for the number of civilians killed during Israel's incursion into the strip after the bloody terrorist attack on Oct. 7, considered the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
Austin responded during a hearing before the House Armed Services Committee about his health and hospital stays — not reported by the Department of Defense.
Democratic Representative Ro Khanna, who demands a ceasefire in Gaza and considers the Israeli government to be "far right," criticized Austin about U.S. support for Israel and cited death tolls reported by the Gazan Ministry of Health, which is controlled by Hamas.
Austin breathed truth to the figures that Khanna mentioned.
The Gazan Ministry of Health has been the body in charge of publishing the "official" figures of those killed during the war. The ministry is headed by Mufiz al-Makhalalati, a member of the Hamas terrorist group who was appointed to the position in September 2012 on the orders of Ismail Haniya, the organization's fearsome leader.
The figures offered by the body governed by Hamas have been reported since Oct. 7, when the terrorist group invaded southern Israel and executed, raped, incinerated and kidnapped entire families.
Pentagon acknowledges it cannot verify casualty data
Hours after the defense secretary took the Hamas figures at face value, Austin’s spokesman walked back his statements. In a press conference Thursday, Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder acknowledged that it was necessary to "clarify" his boss' remarks.
Austin’s response "was citing an estimate from the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry that more than 25,000 total Palestinians have been killed in Gaza," he explained before admitting, "We can't independently verify that these numbers are accurate."
Despite being asked, Ryder did not directly answer why the secretary did not indicate that he was referring to unverified Hamas figures and why he opted for these rather than other sources, such as the Israeli government.
He did offer a new estimate: "We’re certain that thousands of people have been killed, but as for the specific numbers, we cannot verify those specific statistics," he said again after acknowledging that the official data depended on open-source information, “like many of you,” referring to journalists.
Distance between Biden and Netanyahu
Although the United States initially supported Israel and its right to self-defense, Joe Biden's administration has been distancing itself from Benjamin Netanyahu.
Recognizing numbers announced by a terrorist group as official figures for war casualties is a new slight toward Israel, adding to the insistence on the part of the White House that Netanyahu must desist from his persecution against the perpetrators of Oct. 7.
During an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers, Biden said that Israel "has had the overwhelming support of the vast majority of nations," but "if it keeps this up with this incredibly conservative government that they have... they’re going to lose support from around the world."
For Biden, Netanyahu must negotiate the release of the hostages by offering a ceasefire. So, considers the president of the United States, Israel should not, in any way, carry out the operation in Rafah (in the south of Gaza), where the majority of Palestinian civilians and, also, the rest of the terrorists are concentrated today.
Since the war began, Israel and the Hamas terrorist group have faced a conflict parallel to that on the battlefield. Online and in the media, both forces display their own stories, to inform—or to convince.
Hamas' version has been echoed, of course, by the world's authoritarian regimes, which see the information shared by a terrorist group capable of the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust as credible.
With each episode, the Israeli government and the IDF report what happened. Their version of events immediately clashes with that of Hamas, which tends to be precisely the opposite of what was initially reported by a government that, in fact, has allowed the press access to all possible information.
The most recent episode is that of a humanitarian aid convoy that entered northern Gaza on Feb. 29. In one incident, there were more than 100 deaths.
According to the Israel Defense Forces, and evidenced by aerial images captured through a thermal camera, dozens of Palestinians crowded around the truck with supplies and, due to a human stampede, the tragedy occurred.
However, Hamas says the opposite: that the Israeli military opened fire, without mercy or contemplation, on civilians waiting for humanitarian aid supplies.
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