Caught In The Act! Gaza Health Ministry Inflating Number of Gazans Killed

Following our previous Gazan casualties analysis – which was deliberately based on the Al Jazeera list (itself based on data from the Gaza Health Ministry) to prove a point – our reader noticed that the list itself is replete with duplicate names. In fact, there are at least 33, as I have attempted to show below. Note there could actually be way more.

(click on images to enlarge).

list1list2list3list4list5

I noticed that another website showing the list of casualties – Gazadeaths.com – also contains duplicate names (for example, 4 year old Mona Rami al-Kharwat/Mona Rami Al Kharwat).

I have no doubt this is a deliberate ploy on the part of the Gaza Health Ministry, to inflate the number of dead for propaganda purposes.

Which also begs the question. How many of these named people died from rockets launched by Hamas (which misfired and landed in Gaza), or in traffic accidents, honor killings or even natural causes?

21 thoughts on “Caught In The Act! Gaza Health Ministry Inflating Number of Gazans Killed”

  1. I mean it is possible theyre stupid and didnt check to see if a name was listed, and why should they even care?

    1. Renato H. M. de Oliveira

      What is more likely, Hamas lying or being careless in listing names?

      Given Abbas speech of 99% deaths are kids, elderly and women, even when their own stats show some 70% deaths or even more in some group ages are men, you can clearly see they have no problems lying, because BBC et all will never call the bluff.

      1. Depends on who we are talking about. Al Jazeera is gathering information from various sources, and could plausibly screw up. Abbas is saying whatever he wants.

        1. Renato H. M. de Oliveira

          The problem is not Abbas saying, he is an accomplished liar.

          The problem is the world buying what he says.

  2. Hello to Everyone,

    I am actually the guy who has been doing the analysis. In case you are curious how I caught this, it was mainly due to the fact that I had organized the data by gender and age. And I noticed this very odd numeration pairing for the shared names:

    372, 428

    508, 556
    507, 558

    509, 559

    510, 560

    513, 561

    505, 562,

    511, 563,

    512, 564,

    514, 565

    502, 566

    503, 567

    515, 571

    516, 572

    517, 573,

    518, 574

    519, 575,

    520, 576

    521, 577

    522, 578

    523, 579

    524, 580

    525, 581

    526, 582

    572, 583

    528, 584

    529, 585 (and 455)

    530, 586

    531, 587,

    532, 588

    533, 589

    534, 606

    535, 607

    Obviously it could be argued that it was double reporting, but the numeration is for long stretches exactly the same number away like 519,575 is 56 units apart (some are different number of units apart, such as the last two which is 71), which would hint at specifically copy/pasting. Also the names are exactly in the same order, I find it hard to believe that two people would give the same exact list of names, in the same order, with only sometimes minor changes in spelling (such as Walid vs Waleed or Alkilani vs Al-Kilani).

    However, even working under the assumption of double reporting, this shows some incredibly sloppy work from the Gaza Health Ministry and it is important to question how exactly are names reported and recorded? Furthermore it also shows terrible work by Al-Jazeera, as they especially have a responsibility to check these kinds of things as it is their journalistic integrity (or whatever remains of it) on the line.

    Al-Jazeera is quite clearly copy/pasting data without even the most minimal of checks, some of these you can find by a simple control+f search. I find this rather a callous and despicable attempt at propaganda, focused on whipping up emotions than any proper journalism.

      1. Not a problem, I should also just include one other theory. It could be that this is not exactly an attempt at inflating numbers. It could be that whatever the number is currently is actually the number killed. But this is their way of hiding or obfuscating who has been killed, because especially with the news this morning that 150 Hamas terrorists have surrendered, it could be Hamas’ way of hiding their extensive casualties (to stop morale sinking) and playing their usual propaganda strategy of saying only civilians have been killed.

        Though I should make it clear the perspective of inflating the numbers killed and the use of repeating names to obfuscate their casaulties are not mutually exclusive positions.

        Which now makes it extraordinarily difficult for me to analyze these lists in the future, as I cannot trust anything written in them.

        1. A thousand thanks, The Reader !

          Do you have an excel spreadsheet with the names and all ? cause id be interested in doing demographic stats of the names counted twice 🙂

      2. The Reader, you’re doing sterling work and creating some valuable resources for all of us who are trying to counter the lies of the haters.

        Israellycool, thank you for being the host of this important information.

  3. And now there’s another 9 that I’m sure will get added to the list, despite the fact they were executed by Hamas (following a fair trial, I’m sure… )

    http://www.timesofisrael.com/day-17-cabinet-mulls-expanded-gaza-op-hamas-again-rules-out-ceasefire-faa-extends-flight-ban/#ixzz38N9gwvvV at the 11:10 time-stamp:

    Hamas executes 9 alleged collaborators

    Hamas has executed a total of nine alleged “collaborators with Israel,” Army Radio reports.

    Several of them were said to have given Israel information on Hamas activities in Shejaiya.

  4. Alexandra Jünemann

    Oh gee, there are double names on a list coming from an area where chaos thrives. Now there are ‘only’ 685 casualties. Seriously?!

  5. Presumably those 16 ‘Unidentifieds’ (590-605) are those tunnel terrorists who were dispatched to meet their virgins by the IDF as they emerged into Israel earlier this week.

  6. Presumably those 16 ‘Unidentifieds’ (590-605) are those tunnel terrorists who were dispatched to meet their virgins by the IDF as they emerged into Israel earlier this week.

  7. John Vagabond

    Instructive. As one who has worked extensively in the Arab world, as a people group they transliterate names with very approximate spelling. It doesn’t appear important to them to spell names correctly, common in a orally traditional society. Official documents often have differences in spelling for the same person. This, I think, makes it easier to inflate or distort casualty figures.

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