The United Nations clarified on Monday that the total number of fatalities in Gaza reported by the Ministry of Health remains unchanged, exceeding 35,000 since the conflict between Israel and Hamas began on October 7.
This clarification follows a report from the UN humanitarian agency OCHA (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) on May 8, which revised the data on Palestinian casualties. The UN report reduced the estimated number of women and children killed in the conflict by almost half. This reduction is attributed to the UN's decision to rely on fully documented cases of deceased women and children, rather than the total number of deaths. The ministry counts bodies arriving at hospitals in the overall death toll.
UN spokesperson Farhan Haq explained during a briefing that the health ministry in Gaza recently released two separate death tolls: an overall count and a total number of identified fatalities. The UN report only published the total number of fatalities with fully documented identities, leading to confusion.
Haq stated that the ministry has documented 24,686 fully identified deaths out of the total 34,622 fatalities recorded in Gaza as of April 30. This total includes 7,797 children, 4,959 women, 1,924 elderly, and 10,006 men, according to the Gaza health ministry. The health authority in Gaza confirmed that the process of documenting full identification details for casualties is ongoing.
Officials from the Palestinian Ministry of Health informed CNN that although the ministry maintains separate death tolls for identified and unidentified individuals, the total number of deaths remains the same.
The total number of deaths also does not include the approximately 10,000 people who are still missing and believed to be trapped under rubble, the officials added.
Israel initiated its military operation in Gaza on October 7 in response to actions by the militant group Hamas, which governs Gaza. Israel's prolonged blockade of the Palestinian enclave has resulted in extensive damage and severe shortages, endangering the population of over 2.2 million people.
CNN has reviewed a daily report from the Palestinian health ministry that aligns with the numbers published by OCHA. According to the Gaza ministry of health, a total of 15,103 children and 9,961 women have been killed in Gaza since October 7.
Both the UN and US officials have previously considered the figures from the Ministry of Health in Gaza to be reliable.
It is important to note that CNN cannot independently verify these numbers, and the ministry does not differentiate between casualties among combatants and civilians.