U.N. and other international agencies say there can be small discrepancies between the final casualty numbers and those reported by the Gaza health ministry straight after attacks, but that they broadly trust them. The figures are initially reported in Gaza, and updated in Ramallah after they have been checked, but discrepancies are generally minimal, he said. In a report published on its website on Nov. 3, 2015, the Palestinian health ministry said the number of people killed in the July-August 2014 conflict in Gaza was 2,322. ISRAELI CONCERNIsrael has been attacking Gaza since cross-border raids in which it said 1,400 people were killed by Hamas in southern Israel. An Israeli military spokesman said this week the Gaza health ministry "continuously inflates the number of civilian casualties" and "has been caught lying in the past".

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Persons: Biden, Joe Biden, Mike Ryan, Omar Shakir, Khan Younis, Abu Mustafa, Israel, Gabrielle Tétrault, Farber, James Mackenzie, Edmund Blair, Washington newsroooms, Timothy Heritage, Angus MacSwan Organizations: Palestinian, Reuters, Humanitarian Affairs, Health, Rights Watch, Palestine, Human Rights, Health Organization, Palestinian Authority, West Bank, Hamas, REUTERS, Fatah, Israeli Foreign Ministry, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Arabi, Thomson Locations: GENEVA, Gaza, Israel, Geneva, York, Palestinian, Ramallah, Israeli, Al, Ahli, Jerusalem, Beirut, Washington