Biden's Absurd Israel Policy: Relying on Inaccurate Data from Hamas-Run Ministry

Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla) denounced the Biden administration's handling of the Israel-Gaza conflict, calling it the "most ridiculous thing I've ever seen." He cited the administration's reliance on inaccurate data from the Hamas-run Ministry of Health to support its claims about Palestinian deaths.

The Biden administration's handling of the Israel-Gaza conflict has come under fire from Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla), who has called the administration's reliance on data from the Hamas-run Ministry of Health "absurd."

According to Waltz, the Ministry of Health lacks identifying data for more than 10,000 of the 34,183 so-called martyrs who have been killed in the conflict. Despite these concerns, the Biden administration continues to cite the ministry's data without reference to its origin.

David Adesnik, senior fellow and director of research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, has called on the Biden administration to "ask the intelligence community to evaluate the data's sources and accuracy" before citing Ministry of Health figures in the future.

Adesnik has identified several irregularities in the ministry's data, including that the proportion of deaths reported through media sources has increased from about 30% in December to nearly 80% in the first quarter of 2024. He also noted that the ministry does not differentiate between naturally-occurring deaths and deaths due to violence.

In addition, Adesnik has found that many Hamas fighters are under the age of 18, and that the ministry's death toll includes casualties from misfired Palestinian rockets.

The Biden administration has responded to these concerns by saying that it is not able to independently assess actions in Gaza and that it mourns the loss of every civilian.

However, the stakes in getting the numbers correct are high, as the Hamas-run Ministry of Health has been accused of manipulating and exploiting civilian fatality claims for its strategic benefit.

John Spencer, chair of Urban Warfare Studies at West Point's Modern War Institute, has calculated a 1 to 1.5 or 1.6 ratio of combatant to civilian deaths in Gaza, based on the ministry's estimate that 34,000 have died in the war and the IDF's claim it has killed 13,000 Hamas fighters. This ratio demonstrates significant Israeli efforts to minimize casualties.

Spencer has also described the numerous methods that Israel has employed to protect the civilian population of Gaza, including evacuating civilians before beginning ground invasions, providing safe routes and humanitarian zones for evacuations, and imposing use of force restrictions.

In sum, Spencer explained that "all available evidence shows that Israel has followed the laws of war, legal obligations, best practices in civilian harm mitigation and still found a way to reduce civilian casualties to historically low levels."