The toll of at least 30,035 killed, from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, has previously been described as trustworthy by the World Health Organization’s (WHO) regional emergency director Richard Brennan.
The WHO says the ministry has “good capacity in data collection” and its previous reporting has been credible and “well developed”.
But its overall tally of those killed does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
The Gaza authorities’ last demographic breakdown from 29 February indicated more than 70% of those killed had been women and children.
I believe they would, because Hamas is the one putting out these numbers and they have every incentive to do this as a propaganda win.
Teenage soldiers are a particularly tragic part of this war, being both victims and legitimate targets. Hamas has used child soldiers extensively in the past, and given that the average age in Gaza is about 17, we would expect a large fraction of Hamas soldiers to be teenagers. Further, they would represent the lowest ranking members who would be put in the most danger.
Under IHL, if Israel captures a child soldier they are required to separate them from other POWs and give them counseling and treatment. As a practical matter though, it may be difficult to verify that someone with no ID is 17. It will be interesting to see to what extent they complied with this in a few years.