The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today said that the new estimated death toll during the first nine months of Israel’s genocide in Gaza by the prestigious medical journal The Lancet is further evidence of the Israeli government’s genocide.
Research published in The Lancet estimates that the death toll in Gaza up to June, 2024, of the Israeli genocide was 64,260, 41 percent higher than recorded by the Palestinian health officials.
The Lancet report stated in part:
“Our analysis suggests high mortality rates and substantial under-reporting of mortality due to traumatic injury in the Gaza Strip during the first 9 months of the Israeli military operation. We estimated around 64 000 deaths due to traumatic injuries from Oct 7, 2023, to June 30, 2024, implying 41% under-reporting in the MoH estimate over the same period and corresponding to approximately 2·9% of Gaza’s projected pre-war population (2 227 000), or approximately one in 35 inhabitants…
“Our findings highlight the urgent need for expanded humanitarian access to all of the Gaza Strip and protection of health-care personnel, ambulances, and static health facilities so that people with traumatic injuries can access timely and appropriate care, thereby reducing case-fatality. More fundamentally, our findings warrant immediate diplomatic initiatives to achieve an immediate and sustained cessation of hostilities and a lasting deal that includes the release of Israeli hostages and thousands of Palestinian civilians imprisoned by Israel. Just as in other settings, active investigation of potential war crimes committed seems important to affirm justice principles and hold perpetrators from all sides accountable.”
SEE: Gaza death toll 40 percent higher than recorded, Lancet study estimates – AFP
Gaza death toll has been significantly underreported, study finds | CNN
Israel’s war on Gaza may have killed almost 65,000 people in under 9 months, Lancet study suggests – Salon
In a statement, CAIR Deputy Executive Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said:
“Indicted war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right government have slaughtered so many Palestinian civilians that it is difficult to count all the dead. They have killed tens of thousands directly through their indiscriminate bombing, shelling and targeted killings of civilians, and they have killed thousands more through their denial of food and medicine.
“The slaughter, mass destruction, forced starvation, and ethnic cleansing by the Israeli government is showing no signs of stopping, and is in fact accelerating. The Biden administration must end its complicity with genocide, force Israel to accept an immediate ceasefire and hold the war criminals accountable.”
He noted that The Lancet previously estimated that some 186,000 may have died since Israel’s invasion of Gaza.
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@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