“The figures may not be perfectly accurate from minute to minute, but they do roughly reflect the number of deaths and injuries,” said Mike Ryan of the World Health Organization (WHO).
“The Ministry of Health in Gaza has access to information sources that no one else has,” said Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW). According to him, the figures released since October 7 are generally within the range of what could be expected, given the intensity of attacks in a densely populated area like Gaza. “They also correspond with what appears from testimonies on the one hand and satellite images on the other.”
In any case, according to Human Rights Watch, there is a difference between the number of victims released immediately after an attack and the data collected later, when there is more clarity.
But the organization says the figures from Gaza are generally reliable. No major deviations have been identified in previous wars between Israel and Hamas, HRW says.
