Independent gets it wrong on number of terrorists among Palestinian casualties

An article at the Independent by their Mid-East correspondent Bel Trew yesterday shortly after hostilities between Islamic Jihad and Israel commenced yesterday morning was relatively balanced - at least by Indy standards. However, today's piece on the conflict contains two significant errors.

An article at the Independent by their Mid-East correspondent Bel Trew yesterday shortly after hostilities between Islamic Jihad and Israel commenced yesterday morning was relatively balanced – at least by Indy standards.

However, today’s piece on the conflict contains two significant errors.

The first inaccuracy in the article, (“19 dead in Israeli strikes on Gaza, as cross-border fighting rages for second day”, Nov. 13), is found here:

The Israeli military said that militants had fired more than 250 rockets at Israel, with rocket sirens sounding as far north as Tel Aviv and Beit Shemesh, near Jerusalem.

There were no reported casualties, thanks to Israel’s powerful Iron Dome missile system which the military said intercepted some 90 per cent of the projectiles.

Though there have thus far been no deaths, there have been dozens of injuries – including two Israelis who suffered shrapnel wounds from rocket fire.  Here are figures from MDA (Israel‘s national emergency medical, disaster, ambulance service):

Since yesterday at 05:00 and as of 09:15 today, MDA EMTs and Paramedics have treated 48 people, all of whom we’re lightly wounded. Amongst the wounded were 2 men ages 30 and 55 who were injured by shrapnel in the Beer Tuvia Regional Council, another 23 who were injured on their way to the shelters and 23 with stress symptoms.

Trew also errs here:

Gaza’s health ministry also reported that 50 people had been wounded since the violence erupted on Tuesday after an Israeli airstrike killed a senior Islamic Jihad commander accused of masterminding recent attacks

Sources within the 25 mile-long besieged strip told The Independent that at least three fighters were among the dead.

However, reports today by Associated Press, The Washington Post and an independent researcher make it clear that more than half of the 19 killed have been terrorists.

Here’s Associated Press:

Gaza’s Health Ministry says two more Palestinians have been killed by ongoing Israeli airstrikes, bringing the death toll in the escalation over the past two days to 18.

Among the dead are 11 confirmed Islamic Jihad militants

Here’s Washington Post:

Israeli airstrikes killed more Islamic Jihad militants in Gaza on Wednesday as rocket fire toward Israel resumed after a brief overnight lull, raising the death toll in the strip to 18 Palestinians in the heaviest round of fighting in months.

Seeking to keep the outburst under control, the Israeli military has restricted its operations to Islamic Jihad, and nearly all the Gaza casualties so far have been members of the militant group.

Gaza researcher Joe Truzman even has a graphic, with evidence that at least 11 of those killed were self-identified terrorists.

We’ve contacted The Independent seeking a correction to these erroneous claims.

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