Mr Griffiths told the BBC’s Today programme: “Gaza is a war zone and the collection of data and statistics, while admirable and necessary, is, first of all, compared to actually delivering some aid. Secondly, in insecure situations, collecting data and statistics is very difficult and violent.
“So…please be realistic about what could happen in what we’re seeing in Gaza. I think we’re being very cautious about the numbers and I don’t think it’s right to blame the emissaries who are trying to understand the truth. This is a very, very Complex situation.
When the war began last October, the Hamas-run health ministry reported only deaths for which hospitals had registered details, while starting in November the GMO included the category of additional deaths recorded in “reliable media reports”.
On May 6, OCHA reported 34,735 deaths, including more than 9,500 women and more than 14,500 children, citing genetically modified organisms as the source of the deaths.
Two days later, the United Nations released a further report, directing its source to the Ministry of Health.
As a result, while the total death toll remained almost unchanged (34,844), the number of registered deaths of women (4,959) and children (7,797) fell significantly as of April 30.
This difference is because individuals with incomplete information are not included in the demographic breakdown.
In response to the change in official U.N. estimates, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz called on U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to step down.
Mr Katz wrote in a post on The data.
“Anyone who relies on false statistics from terrorist groups to promote a blood libel against Israel is anti-Semitic and supports terrorism. @antonioguterres, resign!”
Israel began military operations in the Gaza Strip after Hamas launched an attack on October 7, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking another 252 hostage.
