NYT: Civilian or Not? New Fight in Tallying the Dead From the Gaza Conflict
Interesting article on something I've been wondering about. In the chaos of the conflict, and with one side being a guerilla force, how exactly have all the counts of the dead figured out who is a civilian and who isn't? The numbers have been strangely precise.
Not surprisingly, it turns out there's heavy debate over this.
NYT article
By Tuesday, this is what they had come up with: 1,865 martyrs from Israeli aggression since July 6: 429 under age 18, 79 over 60, 243 women. The Palestinian Ministry of Health does not categorize victims as civilian or combatant, but others do: The United Nations which had a lower death toll, 1,814 said that at least 72 percent were civilians, while two Gaza-based groups put the percentage at 82 (Al Mezan Center for Human Rights) and 84 (the Palestinian Center for Human Rights).
Israel has a very different assessment. The military says it took the lives of 900 terrorists, but it did not provide specifics beyond the 368 cases listed in 28 entries on its blog. Politicians have been saying that 47 percent of the dead were fighters, citing a study by an Israeli counterterrorism group that is impressive in its documentation, using photographs and Internet tributes, but analyzes only the first 152 casualties, when the assault was exclusively from the air.
Much more, including demographic charts, at the link.