Read this: Finally, A Hamas Leader Admits That Israel Killed Mostly Combatants In Gaza
Israeli researchers found that 1,166 residents of Gaza were killed in fighting,. Fewer than 300 of those killed were civilians, they said.
Names released by Hamas and Gaza media during the skirmish showed that the overwhelming majority of victims were young men. However, Hamas originally claimed that over 1,400 people were killed, and that more than 1,000 of those were civilians, saying that just 48 of its terrorists had died.
While the terrorist group recently admitted that of its fighters were among the dead, world media continues to repeat its initial claim that most victims were civilians.
A report printed Monday byAFP stated that the operation “killed 1,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians,” while theAssociated Press stated that Cast Lead “left about 1,400 Palestinians dead, including many civilians, and brought heavy international criticism on Israel.”
Reuters stated that the 2008 operation “killed some 1,400 Palestinians,” but unlike AFP, it did not claim that most of the dead were civilians.
Media outlets around the world often repeated Hamas claims during Cast Lead, leading to harsh international criticism of Israel. In one case, Hamas and local United Nations officials accused Israel of killing dozens of civilians who had hidden in a UN school – when in fact, none of those in the school were killed. The Associated Press, and the British papers Guardian and Daily Mail were among those to accuse Israel of killing civilians in the school.
UN official John Ging later clarified that Israel was right in saying that its troops had not fired on the school and that nobody in the school was killed.
