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Civilian Deaths in Gaza: Relatively Low

(Gatestone Institute) Alan M. Dershowitz - The death toll among civilians in Gaza - even including children and women - is among the lowest in the history of comparable warfare. Over the past several months, it has become even lower. According to the New York Times, "The daily death toll in Gaza has more than halved in the past month," and has fallen almost 2/3 since late October. Moreover, the percentage of civilian to combatant causalities has gone down considerably as well. Israel's military actions produced far fewer deaths and a far lower ratio of civilian-to-combatant deaths (2:1) than in any comparable urban warfare. This is especially significant considering that Hamas deliberately increases civilian deaths by using women and children as human shields and by hiding its military personnel and equipment among civilians. Critics of Israel almost never cite comparable data from other military encounters, creating the false impression that the civilian death toll in Gaza is among the highest in history, when it is in fact among the lowest. Israel's conduct in its defensive war, started by Hamas, has been exemplary. It satisfies all international standards. The writer is professor emeritus at Harvard Law School.
2024-02-02 00:00:00
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