Disproportionate Deaths in Gaza: An Infographic
People are really bad at comprehending large numbers, and even worse at discerning the scale between them. For example, the difference between 1,000 and 10,000 seconds is the difference between 17 minutes and 2-hours and 47-minutes. This is why visualizing data can be a better avenue when trying to put things in perspective.
It is in that spirit that I think it is important to paint the disproportionate and wanton death raining upon the Palestinian people in Gaza.
For those of you living under a rock, Israel responded to Hamas’ October 7th terror attack that resulted in 1,200 deaths, 5,600 injuries, and another 250 people being kidnapped into Gaza.
Israel’s response has been nothing short of catastrophic. Genocide is how Israel is hoping to deter future attacks all in the name of self-defense.
Does Israel have a right to self-defense? Yes, absolutely. Coincidentally, so do the occupied Palestinian people. It has long been understood that the occupied party has a right to overthrow their occupier. It has also long been understood that terrorism can have a revolutionary element. If you don’t believe me, just look at the revolutionaries who helped bring Israel to its current statehood.
Those hard truths notwithstanding, it is imperative to understand that while Hamas may be made up of Palestinians, Palestinians are not Hamas. Moreover, the innocent people that had their work visas revoked — some 19,000 — and thrown back into Gaza, or the hundreds of people killed in the West Bank and thousands more injured or imprisoned, begs a lot of questions on exactly what “self-defense” can possibly mean given the fact that people weren’t involved in the original attack are getting punished.
In a purely mathematical sense, proportionality ended after the third day of Israel’s response.
For those of you not living under a rock, and paying attention to daily updates, we hear regularly how many people are dying within the Gaza Strip. Not only did Israel tell Gazans to move south, but they then proceeded to bomb the south. Netanyahu has repeatedly — along with Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) commanders — that there is “no city in Gaza” that they will not reach.
The Palestinian people in Gaza are damned if they do, and damned if they do not. They can stay in their homes and face obliteration like the estimated 825 families that have been “wiped out.” Or they can flee to a refugee camp — as was “encouraged” by Israel — only to be bombed there.
We’ve heard it said a number of times that Israel, on October 7th, 2023, experienced 9/11 on a scale of 12 times. This, while true, ignores entirely the fact that the Gaza Strip — since October 7th — has experienced a scalable 9/11 event 9 times a day for nearly 60 straight days.
In fact, when we only count the dead, what Israel has committed upon Gaza is tantamount to 533 9/11 events. They’ve brought down upon civilians 46 times more damage than what Hamas did on October 7th.
But these numbers can be hard to grasp. So, below is a graph to show the number of casualties in the Gaza Strip, West Bank, and Israel, from October 7th, 2023 and December 3rd, 2023. This does not include those kidnapped, and does not differentiate between combatants. For an even larger demonstration of this disproportionate response, check out this depiction.
Whether you stand with Palestine or Israel, the facts speak for themselves, and the facts are that more than 16,500 people have died, another 46,000 people have been injured, and another 7,000 are missing. A whopping 45% of all deaths are children. For every Israeli child that died on October 7th, 141 Palestinian children have paid the price.
This is unacceptable.
