A UNICEF spokesperson has defended the death toll being reported out of Gaza, saying the organization’s figures match those of the Hamas-controlled Gazan health ministry, as scores of Palestinians evacuated to the territory’s south on Tuesday.

A UNICEF spokesperson has defended the death toll being reported out of Gaza, saying the organization’s figures match those of the Hamas-controlled Gazan health ministry, as scores of Palestinians evacuated to the territory’s south on Tuesday… CNN cannot independently verify the health ministry’s death toll. But UNICEF spokesperson James Elder said on Tuesday the organization’s estimates had closely aligned with the ministry’s in the past, which gave him confidence in the current figures. He told CNN’s Julia Chatterley: “Our numbers were within a couple of percent of that, almost identical. We don’t have that concern based on past history.”

“At UNICEF we are very, very precise with our numbers. We have the reputation, not just because we are on the frontlines and we deliver, but we have evidence,” he said.

  • livus@kbin.socialOP
    23·
    1 year ago

    Later in the article it talks about the horror part:

    A World Health Organization spokesperson said on Tuesday some Gaza doctors had been performing operations without anesthesia, including amputations.

    “Nothing justifies the horror being endured by civilians in Gaza,” WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier said during a press briefing. He reiterated the UN’s calls for “unhindered, safe and secure access” for some 500 trucks of aid a day — not only across the border but also “all the way through to the patients in the hospitals.”
    …

    Emily Callahan, a nurse activity manager for the non-profit Doctors Without Borders, was in Gaza last week and saw the devastation firsthand.

    “There were children with just massive burns down their faces, down their necks, all over their limbs, and because the hospitals are so overwhelmed, they are being discharged immediately after,” she told CNN on Tuesday. “And they are being discharged to these camps with no access to running water … They are given two hours of water every 12 hours.”

    She described seeing children walking around with severe wounds and “partial amputations.” Their parents would go to her and the other aid workers asking for help – “and we have no supplies,” she said.