US President Joe Biden has expressed skepticism towards the casualty figures provided by Palestinian officials in Gaza. However, international humanitarian agencies view these figures as generally accurate and historically reliable. While there is no dispute that Israeli attacks on Gaza have resulted in numerous deaths since Hamas initiated an attack on Israel on October 7, Biden did not explain why he lacked confidence in the Palestinian numbers. In response, the health ministry in Gaza released a 212-page document containing the names and identity numbers of approximately 7,000 Palestinians that it claimed were killed in the Israeli bombardment. International groups and global media outlets, including Reuters, have been unable to independently verify these figures, but they have witnessed a significant number of bodies. The United Nations and other international agencies acknowledge that there may be minor discrepancies between the final casualty numbers and those initially reported by the Gaza health ministry after attacks, but they generally trust the figures. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) stated that they continue to include the Palestinian data in their reporting because it is well-sourced, but at the moment, they cannot provide daily verification. The World Health Organization’s Executive Director, Dr. Mike Ryan, also acknowledged that while the figures released by both sides may not be completely accurate on a real-time basis, they do accurately reflect the scale of death and injury in the conflict. Human Rights Watch and other organizations have found the casualty figures to be generally reliable and consistent with what is expected given the intensity of the bombardment in a densely populated area. It is worth noting that calculating death tolls is challenging, as a World Health Organization official mentioned that there are estimates of around 1,000 unidentified bodies still buried under the rubble in Gaza. As Hamas controls Gaza, responsibility for the health ministry lies with the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. The Palestinian Authority reports casualties based on information received from hospitals, ambulances, and emergency services. The figures are initially reported in Gaza and later updated in Ramallah after confirmation. Israel has not provided its own estimated death toll. Since the last major conflict in 2014, the reporting of casualties by Palestinian authorities has not significantly changed. In that conflict, the Palestinian health ministry reported 2,322 deaths, while a UN-mandated commission of inquiry reported 2,251 deaths. The Israeli Foreign Ministry reported 2,125 deaths, according to data from the Israeli military. The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs estimated the number of Palestinian deaths at over 2,100, while rights groups B’tselem put the figure at 2,202. Israel has been conducting attacks on Gaza since the October 7 cross-border raids, attributing 1,400 deaths to Hamas in southern Israel. The Israeli military accused the Gaza health ministry of inflating the number of civilian casualties and stated that they have been caught lying in the past. An unclassified US intelligence report estimated the death toll in an attack on Al-Ahli al-Arabi Hospital to be at the low end of the 100 to 300 spectrum, while an Israeli official suggested the toll appeared to be several dozen. Palestinian officials have mentioned the difficulties in determining the number of dead in the attack due to dismembered bodies that required extensive identification.