Israel killed 360,000 Palestinians in Gaza; real toll 'severely under-reported’: Renowned American attorney

A renowned American attorney and indigenous rights campaigner estimates that the Israeli military has killed at least 360,000 people in its 15-month-long genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, arguing that the besieged territory’s true death toll is significantly higher than the figure reported by mainstream media.

Steven Donziger, who spent decades battling Chevron over pollution in the Ecuadorian rainforest, made the assertion on Wednesday, as he criticized the “narrow and incomplete” death count in Gaza, which “is severely under-reported” in international news outlets.

“Official data from the Gaza Ministry of Health reports approximately 46,000 deaths, but this figure only includes direct fatalities from bombings and missile strikes. It does not take into account the widespread indirect deaths from starvation, disease, and lack of medical care caused by the destruction of Gaza’s health infrastructure and the blockade imposed by Israel,” he said.

He went on to say that as of January 19, 2024, the number of deaths in Gaza, including both direct and indirect causes, could be as high as 306,000, according to his analysis.  

The Harvard-trained lawyer further compared this figure to the population of the United States, stating that if the same proportion of Americans had died in a conflict, it would be equivalent to 46 million people, or about 14% of the country’s population.

While acknowledging that these estimates are not precise, he maintained that they reflect the scale of the human tragedy in Gaza, saying, “I have a great deal of confidence that our calculation accurately captures the shocking scale of what has happened—and continues to happen.”

Donziger’s figures are based on a study published by the UK’s Lancet medical journal in June 2023 estimating that the accumulative effects of Israel’s war on Gaza could mean the true death toll could reach more than 186,000 people.

From this, Donziger calculated that with an additional 214 days of fighting until the ceasefire in January 2024, the total death toll would have risen to approximately 306,000.

Gaza death toll 40% higher than recorded, Lancet study estimates

A new study published in the UK’s Lancet medical journal estimates that Gaza

Also in January this year, The Lancet published a study estimating that Gaza's death toll during the first nine months of the war was about 40 percent higher than figures reported by the Palestinian Health Ministry.

The study suggested the total death toll was actually at around 64,260, which would mean the health ministry had under-reported the number of deaths by 41 percent.

The new study used data from the ministry, an online survey and social media obituaries to estimate that there were between 55,298 and 78,525 deaths from traumatic injuries in Gaza by that time.

Earlier, a UN report had indicated that around 10,000 missing Gazans are probably buried under rubble.

The number of dead in Gaza has been a matter of bitter debate since Israel launched its genocidal campaign against the blockaded territory on October 7, 2023, after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas carried out a historic operation against the usurping entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.

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