According to US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf, the number of Gaza Palestinians killed in Israel’s war on Hamas is likely higher than the 10,000 reported by the local health ministry.
“In this period of conflict and conditions of war, it is very difficult for any of us to assess what the rate of casualties are,” Leaf told The Hill during a hearing on Wednesday. “We think they’re very high, frankly, and it could be that they’re even higher than are being cited.”
“We take in sourcing from a variety of folks who are on the ground,” he said. “I can’t commit to a specific figure; it’s possible they’re even higher.”
As of Wednesday, the Health Ministry in Gaza has reported the overall death toll from Israeli attacks at 10,569 – including 4,324 children – with 26,475 people wounded and at least 2,550 missing.
Leaf’s remarks appeared to contradict US President Joe Biden’s statement last month, in which he stated that he had “no confidence” in Palestinian figures. According to National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, the Gaza Health Ministry is “just a front for Hamas.”
“We can’t take anything coming from Hamas, including the so-called’Ministry of Health,’” Kirby said at a White House press briefing on October 26.
The US has reportedly asked Israel to avoid killing civilians, but a New York Times article published last week revealed that Israeli officials “believed mass civilian casualties were an acceptable price in the military campaign,” comparing the operations in Gaza to Germany and Japan’s firebombings during WWII.
After the Palestinian militant group’s October 7 incursion, which resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1,400 Israeli citizens and the kidnapping of more than 200, Israel declared war on Hamas.
Leaf told a House committee on Wednesday that the civilian suffering in Gaza was “emotionally wrenching,” but that stopping the Israeli military operation would be wrong.
“To call a cease-fire right now that might or might not be honoured by Hamas, would be to leave Hamas in control of some 240 hostages, including babies and children, and would also leave fairly well intact, much of the military infrastructure and warfighting capacity and terrorism capacity of Hamas intact,” she went on to say.
