The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today said that the genocide in Gaza is “worse than anyone imagines” after the confirmed death toll in Gaza topping 70,000 due to the recovery of more bodies from the rubble and the Israeli government killing more people, including two 11-year-old and 8-year-old boys over the weekend.
Israeli attacks in Gaza have killed more than 70,000 people in over two years of war, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, as the death toll continues to climb despite the ceasefire signed in October. Israeli forces killed two Palestinian children in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday. The two brothers, aged 11 and 8, died when an Israeli drone struck close to a school sheltering displaced people in the town of Beni Suhaila, according to staff at Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies.
The true death toll is likely much higher than is known at this time with thousands of dead under the rubble. A study in The Lancet journal comparing obituaries published on social media with records kept by Gaza’s Ministry of Health concluded that the actual Gaza death toll was likely being under-reported by as much as 41 percent.
A secret Israeli intelligence database shows that least 83 percent of Palestinians slaughtered in Gaza were civilians – not combatants. Even former Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi acknowledged that more than 200,000 Palestinians have been killed or injured since the start of Israel’s Gaza genocide.
SEE: Gaza death toll rises to 70,000 as ceasefire is tested by repeated outbreaks of violence
Palestinian death toll has surpassed 70,000 since the Israel-Hamas war began, Gaza ministry says
In a statement, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said:
“We are deeply disturbed but not surprised by the fact that the confirmed death toll in Gaza has crossed 70,000 due to the recovery of more Palestinian bodies from the rubble and the Israeli government’s ongoing slaughter of Palestinians, including two children.
“Despite signing the ceasefire agreement brokered by the Trump administration, the genocidal Israeli government continues its massacres and atrocities in Gaza nearly every day. The Israeli government has made it clear that it does not respect the ceasefire agreement President Trump brokered that it will not be deterred from its goal of ethnically cleansing the Palestinian people, even if it happens at a slower pace.
“The Trump administration must take action to reign in these rogue war criminals before more children die at their hands.”
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com