In response to communication from CAMERA’s Israel office, on Nov. 13 Voice of America corrected an erroneous headline to accurately reflect the scope of a United Nations’ report regarding women and children killed in the Gaza Strip during Israel’s war against Hamas.
Though the U.N. Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner’s newly released report considered only a select sample of fatalities in the first six months of fighting, the Nov. 9 headline wrongly cast the findings as relating to the totality of those killed: “UN: Nearly 70% of Gaza war dead are women, children.”
The accompanying English-language teaser on the website of the publicly-funded German news outlet had likewise erred:
The UN Human Rights Office has verified the victim toll in the past six month in Gaza. Nearly 70% are women and children, “indicating a systematic violation of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law.”
Yet, this figure is supported neither by the report in question nor by the accompanying video.
Both the U.N. report and the Deutsch Welle video indicate that the “nearly 70%” figure narrowly relates to the number of verified deaths during the first six months of the war (8,119) out of the total to date — which Hamas claims is 43,000. DW’s video headline erroneously suggests that the 70 percent women and children percentage relates to all the deaths from Oct 7, 2023 to the present.
In contrast, Deutsche Welle’s Nita Blake-Persen indicates in the video that the U.N.’s 70 percent figure does not apply to all of the war fatalities:
Hamas-run health authorities put the death toll at more than 43,000. The UN has verified 8,119 victims but it only includes fatalities verified by three sources and the counting is ongoing.
The U.N. report’s very title notes the limited scope of the report: from November 2023 to 30 April 2024, and includes only the verified deaths, which, on page 6, says that number is 8,119 (“Six-month update report on the human rights situation in Gaza: 1 November 2023 to 30 April 2024“).
Other news headlines, including Reuters‘, made that distinction clear: “Gaza women, children are nearly 70% of verified war dead, UN rights office says.” (Emphasis added.)
Beyond the limited time period of the U.N. figures, data analyst Mark Zlochin notes additional limitations resulting from the U.N.’s own “verification methodology,” which the U.N. itself acknowledged, stating:
That a large proportion of the fatalities verified by OHCHR were killed in residential buildings or similar housing is also partly explained by OHCHR’s verification methodology, which requires at least three independent sources, and the challenges in collecting and verifying information of killings in other circumstances.
About the OHCHR revelation, Zlochin observes:
In other words, their “methodology” makes it much more likely to leave out fatalities that were not killed “in residential buildings or similar housing” and/or those that could not be confirmed by at least three independent sources.
You know, like those that were killed in face-to-face combat with IDF, for example. [Bold in original.]
It also makes their analysis heavily biased towards the relatively rare mass-casualties events that are much more likely to be witnessed by several indepedent [sic] witnesses and leaves out many of the precision strikes with low or no collateral damage.
Finally, as an Associated Press study demonstrated, the death rate for women and children in Gaza declined dramatically beginning in April – that is, at the end point of the UN’s six month report on verified casualties. It’s therefore extremely likely that a study of war deaths in the territory in the seven months after April — even one carried out according to OHCHR’s skewed methodology — would produce a vastly lower ratio of fatalities for women and children.
Deutsche Welle editors agreed with CAMERA staff that a correction is in order and therefore amended the headline to commendably refer to “verified” war dead: “Nearly 70% of UN-verified Gaza war dead are women, children.”
In addition, Deutsche Welle also made an effort to correct the teaser, which now states:
The UN Human Rights Office has verified the number of people reportedly killed during the first six months of the war in Gaza. Nearly 70% are women and children, “indicating a systematic violation of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law.”
Unfortunately, however, the teaser’s amended language did still does not accurately reflect the U.N. report. It’s not that the U.N. has “verified the number of people reportedly killed during the first six months of the war in Gaza.” Rather, of those fatalities the U.N. has managed to verify (via its problematic methodology), 70 percent are women and children.
Separately, CAMERA’s Israel office also prompted correction of the identical error in a Voice of America headline last week.
See also “Guardian Grossly Misleads on Civilian Casualties in Gaza.”