Gaza nips Biden claims in the bud, releases names of 7000+ martyrs

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
27 Oct 2023 20:05

Human rights experts have consistently affirmed the reliability of data provided by the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza.

Wounded Palestinians sit in al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City after sustaining injuries due to Israeli airstrikes on October 17, 2023 (AP)

In the heart-wrenching chronicle of the ongoing genocide, the list of Palestinians killed in an extensive testament spans 212 pages, often revealing entire families bearing the same last name, cruelly wiped out by Israeli airstrikes.

The Palestinian Health Ministry unveiled a sorrowful catalogue on Thursday, a poignant record of over 7,000 Palestinian souls, among them nearly 3,000 innocent children, who have been killed due to the ongoing brutal Israeli aggression since October 7.

Every name is accompanied by a government-issued identification number, a measure aimed at demonstrating transparency.

The enormity of children lost to Israel’s genocide is staggering. While sharing pictures of all is impossible, this a list of all the names of these innocent victims, a list that would take a day to read. Each name stands as a somber reminder of the unfolding slaughtering of… pic.twitter.com/nVobai0P1E
— Ramy Abdu| رامي عبده (@RamAbdu) October 26, 2023

This comes in response to the insolent remarks made by United States President Joe Biden who expressed skepticism regarding the figures of Palestinian martyrs coming out from Gaza, stating that he lacks confidence in the numbers provided by the Palestinians there.

While it is undeniable that Israeli airstrikes in Gaza have resulted in the deaths of thousands of people, Biden came out and said, “I have no notion that the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed.”

The statements from the US President seemingly represent yet another instance of his administration's efforts to dehumanize Palestinians and downplay the Israeli atrocities, while Washington maintains its unwavering backing of "Israel's" hysteric bombing campaign with daily batches of weapons and funds.

Meanwhile, human rights experts, including those at the United Nations, have consistently affirmed the reliability of data provided by the Palestinian Health Ministry.

"We continue to include their data in our reporting and it is clearly sourced," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement to Reuters.

"It is nearly impossible at the moment to provide any UN verification on a day-to-day basis."

Human Rights Watch, a New York-based organization, concurs that the casualty statistics have generally proven to be trustworthy, and their verification of previous attacks in Gaza has not revealed significant disparities.

"It's worth noting that the numbers that are coming out since October 7th are generally consistent or within logic for the scale of killings one would expect, given the intensity of bombardment in such a densely populated area," Omar Shakir, Director at Human Rights Watch in occupied Palestine, said.

"Those numbers are in line with what one might expect, given what we're seeing on the ground through testimony, through satellite imagery and otherwise," he said as quoted by Reuters.

The United Nations, on its part, affirmed that the casualty figures from the Palestinian Health Ministry have demonstrated their credibility in past wars, following Washington's skepticism about the current war's casualty toll.

'No one have ever doubted them'

Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, told journalists in al-Quds, "In the past, throughout five or six aggression cycles in the Gaza Strip, these numbers were considered credible, and no one has ever doubted them."

He further expressed concern that essential public services in blockaded Gaza are deteriorating rapidly, leading to potential food shortages for the war-affected population in the region.

UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini, addressing journalists in occupied al-Quds, voiced his disapproval of the international community's apparent abandonment of Gaza.

The international community “seems to have turned its back on Gaza," he said.

"People in Gaza are dying; they are not only dying from bombs and strikes: soon many more will die from the consequences of (the) siege imposed on the Gaza Strip," said Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).

Lazzarini further mentioned that there is a severe shortage of fuel in Gaza, with a daily requirement of approximately 160,000 liters (or 42,200 gallons) to support hospitals and bakeries. On Tuesday, the agency had issued a prior warning that it would deplete its fuel supply by Wednesday evening.

"Basic services are crumbling, medicine is running out, food and water are running out, the streets of Gaza have started overflowing with sewage."

UNRWA personnel in Gaza are expressing that their activities are deteriorating, and “for the first time ever, they report that now people are hungry,” according to Lazzarini.

“Civil order is collapsing,” he added.

When questioned about the duration of the remaining supplies, Lazzarini stated that they would endure “certainly no more than a few days.” Additionally, Lazzarini mentioned that 57 agency employees in Gaza were killed due to the brutal Israel aggression so far.

“We cannot turn a blind eye to this human tragedy,” he concluded.

The fallout of Biden in the eyes of Americans

The Palestinian Ministry of Health continues to respond to doubts about the accuracy of the casualties' figures. It stated that the daily report issued in Gaza has placed the US administration in a degrading position before its people and the world.

It emphasized that Washington is preventing any "neutral party" from accessing the Gaza Strip to witness the atrocity of Israeli massacres.

The Ministry pointed out that the occupation forced international institutions to leave their locations in the north of the Strip and move to the south to obscure facts and control their operations.

Additionally, the Ministry reiterated that its doors are open to all relevant institutions for reviewing their work and statistics, calling on relevant parties to take urgent and effective measures to save the collapsing healthcare system.

It also called on Egypt to open the Rafah border crossing as usual, bring in medical assistance, fuel, medical delegations, and allow the exit of the wounded and patients.

The spokesperson for al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, Khalil al-Daqran, confirmed a real crisis in the kidney and intensive care units. He noted that the aid received does not exceed 2% of the hospital's needs.