Trucks carrying humanitarian aid and fuel line up at the crossing into the Gaza Strip at the Rafah border on the Egypt side, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, in Rafah, Egypt, October 17, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Stringer

In early July, the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry released new casualty figures, broken down by age and gender.

According to these latest numbers, which were republished by Drop Site News — an outlet with a history of acting as a mouthpiece for terrorist organizations — 73,066 Palestinians have been killed, including around 21,000 children and 11,000 women.

The numbers themselves have changed significantly throughout the war and now Hamas’ own accounting puts women and children at roughly 32,000 of 73,066 – well under half. The claim that Israel was deliberately targeting women and children was never supported by the numbers that Hamas is continuing to release.

While the media may have moved on from claiming 70% of the casualties are women and children, it hasn’t abandoned the narrative, just the specific percentage. Since Hamas published its casualty updates, outlets have continued to parrot or even exceed the claims that Hamas has made.

In one instance, the Washington Post not only increased the total casualties by 184 people, but has also stated that the Gaza Health Ministry reports “the majority of casualties are women and children.” Yet Hamas’ own figures display that less than half of the casualties are from those demographics.

Child Casualties and Child Soldiers

Beyond the intentionally misleading numbers, they also hide something much more sinister – Hamas’ use of child soldiers. Children, some as young as 12 years old, have been found to have been recruited by Hamas or other terrorist organizations, including Islamic Jihad.

Many CHILD COMBATANTS are being outed in Gaza, as young as 12. Did the IDF kill innocent child Hamza Al-Kurd at the Al-Barak Petroleum station in Deir Al-Balah on July 12, 2025? No. It was a child soldier that was part of an armed cell. SILENCE from the “human rights” NGOs. 1/ pic.twitter.com/PgYJoPl4UG

— Aizenberg (@Aizenberg55) July 17, 2026

Hamas has previously exhibited its willingness to use child soldiers, recruiting many of them in the years leading up to the war. By indoctrinating children with hatred and recruiting them as soldiers, the terrorist organization effectively prepared to use them during the war as human shields, constituting a grave war crime.

If more than half of the population in Gaza is under the age of 18, surely the casualty numbers for this age bracket would be much larger had the IDF intentionally targeted that population. But Hamas’ own numbers show that the vast majority of those killed are men of fighting age, telling an entirely different story of the war.

Hamas itself has begun admitting to this, and thus far has released almost 1,000 martyr posters of its combatants who died in the war. Other terrorists organizations have issued hundreds more notices about detailing their fallen operatives. As martyr posters continue to be released, they reveal that these were not only men of fighting age, but many exploited civilian roles whilst working as a terrorist operative.

An Ongoing Genocide?

Hamas’ own casualty figures describe the war the IDF has been fighting for nearly three years. The demographic breakdown points to a war fought against terrorists who seek to destroy the Jewish state, not the civilian population, as the genocide framing asserts.

Still, the narrative of the war being described as a “genocide” has remained. In republishing Hamas’ casualty figures, Drop Site News described the war as “genocidal,” suggesting that a supposed genocide was continuing, even after the ceasefire was declared in October 2025.

In warping the entire meaning of the word genocide, malicious actors seek to strip the term of all historical and legal meaning, using it instead as a rhetorical weapon, even when the facts do not align.

The IDF’s ongoing work to ensure water, food, medical items, and other essential items enter the Gaza Strip only further displays the willingness of Israelis to ensure that the civilian population remains unharmed during a war with a terrorist entity.

Full markets, thriving restaurants, and operational medical facilities. Pictures and videos found on social media show the humanitarian situation in Gaza, painting a vivid picture of the reality on the ground.
Since the start of the ceasefire, COGAT has coordinated the entry of… pic.twitter.com/EpHDXOnMTN

— COGAT (@cogatonline) July 12, 2026

When Hamas-supplied numbers are taken at face value, the narrative of the war becomes far from reflecting reality. Yet the lack of skepticism that news outlets have about casualty figures has allowed that narrative to outlive its supporting figures.

Despite Hamas publishing numbers that contradict the narrative the media has clung to throughout the war, the coverage hasn’t changed. It is in this way that the narrative war continues months after a ceasefire was declared on the battlefield.

The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.