On June 26, the United States House of Representatives passed an amendment barring the State Department from citing the Gaza Health Ministry’s death toll statistics for the Israel-Hamas war. Once signed into law, it will effectively halt discussions of the war's deaths.
The House voted 269-144 for a revision to the Department of State appropriations bill proposed by a bipartisan group led by Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL). A group of 62 Democrats joined all but two Republicans in voting for the measure. The provision "prohibits funds appropriated by this act to be made available for the State Department to cite statistics obtained from the Gaza Health Ministry."
The health ministry has been cited by the department and news agencies for decades amid conflict in Gaza. Its daily death toll during the current conflict that began in October has served as a primary source for understanding the war's impact on Palestinians in the territory. It is the only official entity tracking death data in Gaza.
Palestinian-American congresswoman Rashida Tlaib slammed the vote in Congress, which critics allege is an attempt to hide the scale of the devastation wreaked on Gaza by Israel. "Since 1948, Mr. Speaker, there has been a coordinated effort, especially in this chamber, to dehumanize Palestinians and erase Palestinians from existence," Tlaib said in a speech addressing the House before the vote. "My colleagues want to prohibit our own U.S. officials from even citing the Palestinian death toll."
The Michigan representative reminded her colleagues of the tens of thousands killed by Israel in Gaza, highlighting the number of children among those dead. "Six children are killed in Gaza every single hour. But Palestinians are not just numbers. Behind these numbers are real people, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters who have had their lives stolen from them and their families torn apart and we should not be trying to hide it," she added and then slammed the anti-Palestinian racism in their chamber.
"My colleagues don't even want to acknowledge that Palestinians exist at all. Not when they're alive, and now, not even when they're dead. It's absolutely disgusting. This is genocide denial," she lamented.
According to the health ministry's latest release, nearly 38,000 have died and 85,000 have been injured since Israel started its genocidal operations in Gaza last fall. Many of those injured have life-altering wounds. The United Nations Palestinian Aid Agency (UNRWA) estimates that over 2,000 children, or nearly ten per day, have lost legs since Oct. 7.
The agency also noted that the figure is likely an undercount, due to Gaza's lack of medical infrastructure and those missing and trapped under rubble. Its daily death toll also does not include underlying data and does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
President Joe Biden even attempted to cast doubt on the reliability of the Gaza death toll numbers, suggesting the possibility that Hamas may have been manipulating the data. "I have no notion that the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed," Biden said in October, prompting Gaza's health authorities to publish a detailed list of the names and ages of the Palestinians killed by Israel at the time.
Israel silently annexing the West Bank as the world watches Gaza conflict closely
Israel Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has been working on transferring legal authority over the West Bank from the military to a civilian entity led by Jewish settlers as Israel steps up its annexation of the Palestinian territory. The country is also legalizing settlement outposts, authorizing the building of thousands of units defunding the Palestinian Authority (PA) and stripping it of administrative powers, most recently in the so-called Area B.
The Israeli government also signed off on a proposal to recognize five outposts as settlements and impose punitive new measures on the PA, including withdrawing some of its civilian authority in Area B of the West Bank. Under the Oslo Accords, that area is run jointly by the PA and the Israeli army. But in recent years, Jewish settlers have been seizing private Palestinian land in Area B for cultivation and settlement in a clear violation of the Oslo Accords.
The PA has exclusive administrative control of Area A, which makes up about 18 percent of the total territory of the West Bank. Area B makes up about 22 percent. Together, they are home to some 2.8 million Palestinians.
Previous governments from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right government had approved plans for expanding the building of settlements in Area C, which is home to about 300,000 Palestinians and makes up about 60 percent of the West Bank, including the entire Jordan Valley and land along the so-called Green Line.
But under this government, Smotrich has launched plans to annex the entirety of Area C by transferring powers to a civilian administration, which is run by the settlers. This is being done without much fanfare.
The plan was launched 18 months ago and parts have been incrementally implemented. According to Smotrich, the government has allowed the Defense Ministry to remain involved in the process so that it appears that the military is still at the heart of West Bank governance.
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