The Lancet claimed that indirect deaths as a result of the war could be anywhere between 149,000 and 598,000 Palestinian deaths if the war were to end at once, indicating between three to 15 indirect deaths per direct death. (Related: Death toll in Gaza could hit nearly 600,000 people as "indirect deaths" pile up, The Lancet projects.)
The medical journal released a research correspondence between physicians and public health experts on July 5 on the difficulty of accounting for the number of those killed by Israel's ongoing war on Gaza, stressing that both direct and indirect deaths should be considered.
If the conflict were to end instantly with 37,396 direct deaths, and the upper bound of 15 indirect deaths per direct death is used, a total death toll of 598,336, or 26 percent of the population, would be expected.
The lower bound of three indirect deaths per direct death would result in an estimated 149,584 total deaths.
The Gaza Health Ministry has reported over 38,000 Palestinians killed since the start of the war. The ministry traditionally depends on data from hospital officials in the beleaguered enclave, who receive the injured and bodies of the dead.
Nevertheless, Israeli bombing has destroyed several of Gaza's hospitals and brought its whole health system to the brink of collapse.
Indirect deaths will continue to rise in coming months and years
The authors said that "even if the conflict ends immediately, there will continue to be many indirect deaths in the coming months and years" due to disease, destroyed healthcare infrastructure, and severe shortages of food and water.
Verifying the number and identities of the dead is also difficult because many are buried under the rubble of homes and apartment buildings bombed by Israeli forces, frequently in the middle of the night as Palestinians sleep.
As a result, the ministry has started reporting identified deaths, where the victim's name is known, and unidentified deaths, where it is not.
The contributors mentioned that although some have questioned the accuracy of the Gaza Health Ministry's count, international rights organizations and even Israeli intelligence have accepted it as widely accurate.
Furthermore, the Gaza Health Ministry's official count is probably an underestimate, the authors contend.
For instance, Airwars, a non-governmental organization that became known for tracking deaths during the 2003 United States war in Iraq, has discovered that not all names of identifiable victims are added to the Gaza Health Ministry's list.
The United Nations estimated that as of February 29, Israeli bombings had destroyed 35 percent of buildings in the Gaza Strip, with an estimated 10,000 bodies buried under the rubble, along with many that were never found.
Human Rights Watch said in April that "children in Gaza have been dying from starvation-related complications since the Israeli government began using starvation as a weapon of war."
"In recent conflicts, such indirect deaths range from three to 15 times the number of direct deaths. Applying a conservative estimate of four indirect deaths per one direct death to the 37,396 deaths reported, it is not implausible to estimate that up to 186,000 or even more deaths could be attributable to the current conflict in Gaza," the authors stated.
Such a "conservative estimate" of the death toll would amount to 7.9 percent of Gaza's population of 2.3 million.
Follow Genocide.news for more news about Israel's ongoing war in Gaza.
Watch the video below about the deaths in Gaza being undercounted.
This video is from the The Prisoner channel on Brighteon.com.
More related stories:
Over 47,000 Palestinians killed, wounded or missing in Gaza since Oct. 7.
'Genocide denial': US Congress passes amendment denying Gaza death toll.
UN estimates it will take at least 15 years to clear Gaza of bombing debris.
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