The United Nations have almost halved the number of women and children reported killed in Gaza. Specifically, last May 8, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) noted that the number of women who have lost their lives since the start of the Israeli response to the massacre on October 7 stood at 5,000, compared to the 9,500 reported two days earlier, taking the figures provided by Hamas at face value. The number of children killed by the conflict also plummeted from 14,500 to 8,000. Interestingly, the removal of some 11,000 people from the death toll is not reflected in the total number of civilian casualties according to the agency, which still hovers around 35,000 dead.

UN stops using Hamas figures

In statements reported by the National Post, David Adesnik, research director of the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), said the source of the rectification is that the UN has "quietly" decided to stop using statistics provided by the Hamas-run Government Media Office (GMO).

UN Watch denounces UN's anti-Israeli bias

As JNS points out, the latest UN reports specify that the figures are now based on "identified" fatalities as opposed to the "reported" ones that were collected before. Speaking to JNS, Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, pointed to what, for him, is the main cause: "When it comes to Israel, it is clear that the UN's goal is not accuracy, but rather to immediately seize on any report, no matter how baseless or even patently false, in order to portray Israel as malevolent. The right thing for the UN to do would be to admit now that its Gaza casualty count is a complete failure."