Also excluded were people believed to be still under the rubble and considered missing, those buried without being admitted to a hospital and those whose deaths had not been recorded by hospitals, it said, raising the possibility that the toll could be far higher.
The Ministry of Health, which is part of the Hamas government in Gaza but employs civil servants who predate Hamas’s control of the territory, did not say why it had decided to publish the names of the dead.
But it came after Mr. Biden said that he had “no notion that the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed.” He also added, “I’m sure innocents have been killed, and it’s the price of waging a war.”Mr. Biden did not explain his skepticism.
Others have cast doubt on the soaring death toll cited in part because the Health Ministry is, ultimately, overseen by Hamas, which took control of Gaza in 2007, after winning elections there and then battling the Palestinian Authority in the streets for control.
The United States has long considered the Islamist political and militant group a terrorist organization.
Persons:
Biden, ”, “, Mr
Organizations:
of Health, Mr, Health Ministry, Hamas, Palestinian Authority, United
Locations:
Gaza, United States