Government Media Office in Gaza. GMO.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-69014893Why did the UN change approach?
The GMO has consistently given a higher figure for the proportion of women and children in all fatalities than has the health ministry.
On 6 May, the UN reported 34,735 deaths -
of which there were 9,500 women and 14,500 children,
citing the GMO as its source.
The two days later, the UN released a further report, switching its sourcing to the health ministry.
The result of this was that although the overall recorded death toll was almost unchanged (34,844), the number of registered deaths of women (4.959) and children (7,797) had both fallen significantly.
This difference was because those individuals with incomplete information were not included in the demographic breakdown.
Getty Images The view of demolition at a school belonging to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in GazaGetty Images
The UN now says incomplete information has led to the revision
The GMO says the proportion of women and children killed in the conflict is around 70%.
The UN's latest report, citing health ministry data, says out of 24,686 fully identified fatalities,
52% were women and children, 40% were men, and 8% were "elderly",
without specifying whether they were male or female.
It isn't clear what age the report considers to be "elderly" and how it categorises children.
We have done our own analysis of detailed data released by the health ministry, and also found that 52% of the fatalities were listed as women and children (anyone under 18). In addition, 43% were men and another 5% were "unknown" (missing information such as an age or gender).
For the GMO's figure to be compatible with the health ministry's data, almost all of the 10,000 deaths not fully identified by the ministry would have to have been women and children.
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