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US Health Workers Back From Gaza Estimate Death Toll Is at Least 119,000 (truthout.org)

submitted 1 month ago by Keeponstalin@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

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In a devastating letter sent to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris this week, 99 health workers who have volunteered in Gaza amid the genocide wrote that Israel has likely already killed over 118,908 Palestinians in Gaza. This is approximately 5.4 percent of Gaza’s population, meaning Israel has killed 1 of every 20 Palestinians in the Strip in less than a year, according to this estimate.

Not only is this figure horrific, it is also the “most conservative estimate” possible of the true death toll in Gaza, the health workers wrote in an appendix to the letter. The workers calculated this based on estimates from food insecurity researchers on the death toll caused by famine; rough estimates of deaths by disease; and other estimates of deaths that Gaza health officials are unable to count.

The workers, who spent a combined 254 weeks in Gaza, specifically emphasize the impact that Israel’s genocide has had on children. For instance, they point out that, according to officially reported figures, Israel has killed at least 2,100 babies and toddlers since October 7 — a toll that is higher than the combined Israeli death toll from the First Intifada, the Second Intifada and October 7 attack.

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[-] lurch@sh.itjust.works -1 points 1 month ago

Anyone knows how many Palestinians are left, what their birth rate is and how many decades it will take Israel to complete the genocide at this rate?

[-] unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 16 points 1 month ago

It was in the low millions (2.5 iirc). I dont think the birthrate is existent. Women who give birth will probably die of infection due to the lack of non bombed hospitals and non assassinated doctors. Israel has recently further tightened the restrictions on aid deliveries. Once the starvation and lack of water reaches a critical point, the population could actually start collapsing very quickly.

[-] Keeponstalin@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago

Are you asking why birth rates increase when material conditions worsen?

Pre-war Gaza had a number of salient features that set it apart from the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories. Among them were: a high population density, with an estimated 2.3 million people squeezed into 365 square kilometers (141 square miles); a large number of UN-registered refugees, amounting to 70% of Gazans, the majority of whom lived in eight overcrowded and squalid UN-serviced refugee camps; a population that was increasing annually by 2.8% — among the highest growth rates in the world, with nearly 50% under the age of 18; and a fast-growing labor force, with new entrants to the job market joining long unemployment lines in a small and virtually broken economy.

High rates of joblessness, especially among youth (60%) and women (64%), widespread poverty (64%), and severe food insecurity (41%) produced extremely dire living conditions, rendering 80% of Gaza residents dependent on humanitarian aid for survival. Dilapidated infrastructure, environmental degradation, institutional decay, and chronic shortages in electricity and potable water added further strains. The severity of conditions in Gaza twice led the UN, in 2012 and again in 2015, to warn that if nothing was done to reverse course, the whole place would become unlivable by the year 2020.

Understanding Gaza: A reflection on decades of failed policies and their lessons for the “day after” and beyond

[-] lurch@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 month ago

Are you asking why birth rates increase when material conditions worsen?

No, I was asking the questions I asked.

The info about the pre-war birth rate is a bit helpful, though.

I'm wondering how long it will take Israel to eradicate all Palestinians, if they keep going at the current speed, if the world fails to stop them for decades in a worst case scenario. But don't waste your time on my grim thoughts.

[-] Keeponstalin@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

These things aren't linear, you could try to piece together a projection from the reports on famine. But they deal more with how to prevent and reverse famine, not death projections

https://www.refugeesinternational.org/reports-briefs/untangling-the-reality-of-famine-in-gaza/

[-] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 2 points 1 month ago

The number of deaths will increase exponentially (because most of it is starvation and there's still almost no aid entering the strip), so a few years if nothing changes.

[-] anas@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago

For future reference to everyone else, this is what we call a bad faith question.

[-] lurch@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 month ago

wdym? I didn't mean any harm. I was just overthinking the worst case, but it turned out too complicated to come to a conclusion.

[-] anas@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

I’ve heard enough of “High birth rates” and “This sure is a slow genocide”

[-] lurch@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago

is it not fast enough for you?

[-] Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Yeah, it assumes that they won't accelerate their genocide.

this post was submitted on 04 Oct 2024

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