Hamas has inflated Gaza’s Palestinian casualty count by thousands, with men sometimes being registered as women or children, “potentially influencing international sentiment and media coverage.”
According to a report released by the Henry Jackson Society, a British-based think tank. The study further found that 97% of all publications cited only Hamas figures.
“Casualty counting is a powerful weapon of information war and most sensitive information. These numbers influence what side people sympathize with, and in the end influence political decisions,” Israeli sociologist Tatiana Glezer, who lead the research on the media coverage of Gaza casualties, told The Press Service of Israel. The Jackson Society partnered with a group of scholars called Fifty Global, which Glezer spearheaded.
“A good journalistic practice would be to cite both sides, explaining limitations in their data and the fact that both figures are unverifiable,” Glezer insisted.