A groundbreaking report released last month by two Australian academics reveals widespread manipulation in the casualty data disseminated by Hamas during the ongoing conflict in Gaza.

Their findings challenge widely accepted narratives and raise serious concerns about the use of disinformation – and the role of the legacy media – in modern warfare.

The paper, titled Hamas Casualty Reports are a Tangle of Technical Problems, published by the Henry Jackson Society and authored by Professor Lewi Stone (RMIT University) and Professor Gregory Rose (University of Wollongong), is based on extensive analysis of casualty lists released by the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza between October 2023 and March 2025.

Contrary to Hamas’ repeated claims that 70% of casualties were women and children – a figure amplified by sympathetic media and international bodies – the report concludes that this figure is inflated and contradicted by Hamas’ own raw data.

“Empirical evidence shows Israeli military tried to limit Gazan civilian harm,” the authors conclude, highlighting Israeli efforts to issue over 12 million flyers, 800,000 voice messages, and 100,000 phone calls warning civilians to evacuate conflict zones.

The report also reveals major flaws in the verification and categorisation of casualties:

• 15,070 deaths were initially reported as “unidentified,” later “verified” through online submissions, often with dubious supporting evidence.
• Some reported deaths were found to include people still living.
• Natural deaths, deaths from disease, and even Hamas misfire casualties were included without distinction from Israeli-caused deaths.
• Thousands of names were removed or altered in subsequent lists without explanation.

These manipulations allowed the Hamas Ministry of Health to present a distorted picture of Israeli conduct and to accuse Israel of genocide — allegations that gained traction internationally, despite lacking statistical or documentary support.

The report highlights how foreign academics and media relied heavily on data provided by Hamas, especially in the early stages of the war. Projections from institutions like the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine overestimated Gazan deaths by as much as 440%. One controversial paper in The Lancet predicted up to 186,000 deaths from indirect causes, while Hamas’ own data showed just 38 malnutrition-related deaths by September 2024.

United Nations agencies like UN-OCHA initially echoed Hamas’ 70% figure for women and children casualties, only to later revise these numbers downward by nearly half – an implicit admission of prior error.

Importantly, while the IDF reported having killed some 20,000 Hamas and allied fighters, the Gaza-controlled Ministry of Health (MoH) listed none of its casualties as combatants. The result is a public dataset that treats all deaths as civilians, regardless of combat status, cause of death, or source of injury.

The report’s authors stress that, despite their technical sophistication, Hamas’ casualty datasets were weaponised as tools of strategic disinformation. Leveraging the cooperation of a willing international media, they exploited public trust in data to misrepresent Israel’s military operations and sway global opinion.

Free Palestine’: All about Slaughtering Jews

It’s a demonic chorus. Hell’s equivalent of a church hymn.

But the incantation has nothing to do with freeing Palestinians, and everything to do with slaughtering Jews. It’s not sung as a chant aimed at ending suffering. It’s sung as a shared, communal fantasy about igniting a second Jewish holocaust.

The pro-Palestinian mob would chant “gas the Jews” – indeed, they did outside the Opera House on October 9, 2023 – except that such honesty would dismantle who they’re pretending to be. They pretend to be on the side of the downtrodden. They pretend to be on the side of righteousness. “Free Palestine” serves only as a fig leaf to (barely) cover their bloodlust.