Israel Matzav

Most of Gaza dead are combat-age males

Despite all the whining about civilian casualties in Gaza, data published by al-Jazeera Arabic show that most of the dead are combat-age males.

In a study published on Monday, CAMERA said that a close read of the data “shows that, as in past hostilities, the fatalities are disproportionately [compared to the overall population] among young males, which corresponds with the characteristics of combatants. Males over 40 years old are also disproportionately represented. Some of the fatalities in those over 40 years of age likely represent senior members of terrorist organizations.”

CAMERA based its conclusions on comparing the data of 150 men and 20 women reported to have been killed to the broader population make up in Gaza, where men and woman each account for 50 per cent of the population and the median age is 15 years old.

“Notably, only about 12 percent of the total fatalities are female, though females make up half the population,” CAMERA said. “Also, the median age of Gazans is reported to be around 15. Males under 15 make up just 13 percent of the total fatalities even though they represent half of all males in the Gaza Strip.”

CAMERA graphed a breakdown of the 150 reported male fatalities, excluding 19 whose ages were not listed, though the group noted that one of those was described as a member of Islamic Jihad. Due to space constraints, it also excluded three deaths of males over 65, with a total of 128 on the chart.

The chart shows that 83 deaths were of men between the ages of 16 and 39, 28 were men over 40 years old and 20 were under 16 years old.

CAMERA also noted that the “information provided by Qatar-owned Al Jazeera should not be accepted at face value, as the emirate has close ties to the Hamas-led Gazan government,” and said it would update its analysis as more data was released.

You mean the media lied when it said most of the casualties are civilians? I'm shocked. Just totally shocked.

Labels: al-Jazeera, civilian casualties, Gaza, Hamas, IDF, Operation Protective Edge

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:43 PM