Civilians Take Brunt of 7th Day of Gaza Offensive

Overall Toll at 430 Dead, Over 2,200 Wounded

The Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip continue, but with few targets remaining the air strikes are causing fewer deaths, and more and more of them are civilians.

Though earlier in the war the United Nations Relief and Works Agency reported that “a minimum of 25 percent” of those killed in the attacks were civilians, a human rights group has now put it at about 40 percent. The death toll is now reportedly 430, with and over 2,200 have been wounded.

Of the 10 Palestinians reportedly killed today, seven were civilians, and five of those civilians were children. Killing 10 people in at least 30 air strikes is probably not what Israel was hoping for, and half of them being children certainly doesn’t help the military’s enormous media campaign.

Getting reliable, up-to-date casualty figures from the Gaza Strip is difficult given the Israeli government’s refusal to allow foreign journalists in to report on the situation on the ground. The figures mostly come from hospitals, and don’t include anyone still buried under the rubble created in the attacks.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.