Practically on a daily basis, the Associated Press recounts the Palestinian death toll supplied by Hamas’ Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip. Just about every day, the venerated wire service recounts with muezzin-like regularity Hamas’ latest figures for Palestinian casaulties, frequently extolling the designated terror organization either for its purported “detailed casualty records” or for its consistency with third party data.
For instance, on March 7, AP reported:
Gaza’s Health Ministry said Wednesday the Palestinian death toll from the war climbed to 30,717. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and maintains detailed casualty records. It does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its tallies but says women and children make up around two-thirds of those killed.
March 9, the news agency updated:
Gaza’s Health Ministry says at least 30,878 Palestinians have been killed. It does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its tallies but says women and children make up two-thirds of those killed. The ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government, maintains detailed records and its casualty figures from previous wars have largely matched those of the U.N. and independent experts.
Coverage the following day (yesterday) read:
The Health Ministry in Gaza said that at least 31,045 Palestinians have been killed since the war began. The ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count, but says that women and children make up two-thirds of the dead. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, and its figures from previous wars have largely matched those of U.N. and independent experts.
Today’s coverage so far is somewhat of a departure from the norm, because while it does reliably supply Hamas’ latest figure, it omits the usual “detailed records” and consistency with experts endorsements. (Perhaps the change is a result of this author’s post on the X platform yesterday). AP reports today:
Gaza’s Health Ministry said that at least 31,112 Palestinians have been killed since the war began. The ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count, but says that women and children make up two-thirds of the dead.
Critical info to keep in mind each time @AP shamelessly parrots Hamas’ “detailed casualty records” even as it discredits IDF figures for Hamasniks killed (ie, “without providing evidence.”) We see what you’re doing, AP. https://t.co/PVpjDQERqK @CAMERAorg https://t.co/ui4oPHCVP7 pic.twitter.com/W3bDdSXNu9
— Tamar Sternthal (@TamarSternthal) March 10, 2024
Hamas figures from the Northern Gaza Strip Brigade killed in an Israeli airstrike on a tunnel located near the Indonesian Hospital in December (Photo from IDF X account)
While AP religiously keeps pace with Hamas’ daily tallies, never questioning the figures’ veracity, and often signaling their rock-solid credibility, the news agency notably lags far behind in reporting Israeli military data for the number of Hamas members it has killed. Thus, twice since the war started, the Associated Press only refreshed its outdated reporting on Israeli military figures for Hamas fatalities after CAMERA contacted the agency pointing out that its numbers were outdated, and thus underreported. Another time, the news agency independently updated, albeit with a two-week delay from when the information first became available.
Unlike Hamas, the Israeli military does not update its figures every single day. So, theoretically, the newly reported data should be as least as newsworthy as Hamas’ daily figures. But, at AP, the Israeli military’s updated numbers tend to go under the radar for as long as news agency is able to pull it off.
Thus, on Jan. 15, two AP stories underreported the number of terrorists Israel has said it has killed in Gaza since Oct. 7 as “roughly 8000 militants” (“Live updates: Gaza death toll tops 24,000 . . ” and “UN agency head said Gaza needs more aid to arrive faster . . . “).
AP stuck with 9,000 right up until Feb. 12, at which point for the very first time it increased the number to 10,000, stating: “Israel says its forces have killed roughly 10,000 Hamas fighters, without providing evidence.”
Meanwhile, Times of Israel reported nearly a week before AP woke up with the 10,000 Hamas fatalities figure: “Israel has previously said it has killed some 10,000 Hamas members in Gaza fighting, in addition to some 1,000 killed in Israel in the aftermath of the terror group’s October 7 invasion and onslaught.”
Moreover, nearly two weeks before AP’s first 10,000 report on Feb. 12, Reuters had already reported the 10,000 figure: “Israeli forces have dismantled the Hamas brigade in Gaza’s southern Khan Younis as part of an almost four-month-old war in which 10,000 Palestinian fighters have been killed and the same number wounded, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Thursday” (“Israeli forces have killed 10,000 Gaza fighters, minister says,” Feb. 1).
On countless occasions, AP published headlines citing Hamas’ latest figures for Palestinian fatalities. Unlike Reuters, AP has not run any headlines citing IDF figures for Hamas fatalities.
AP’s footdragging on providing current IDF figures for Hamas members killed persisted into this month.
In this despicable dual double standard, AP shamelessly rushes to prop up dubious casualty figures from a designated terror organization, while inexcusably delaying on reporting current data from the Israeli military.