Italian Paper Reports Hamas Inflated Civilian Casualties

According to HaAretz, the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported Thursday that a doctor at Gaza City's Shifra Hospital disputed the number of civilian casualites suffered by Palestinians in the recent Gaza fighting. "It's possible that the death toll in Gaza was 500 or 600 at the most, mainly youths aged 17 to 23 who were enlisted by Hamas - who sent them to their deaths," the physician said. He added ""Perhaps it is like Jenin in 2002. At the beginning they spoke about 1,500 dead, and at the end it turned out to be only 54 - of whom 45 were militants." The Italian paper also reported that Palestinian civilians have accused Hamas of forcing them to stay in homes from which gunmen shot at Israeli soldiers during the recent hostilities.

Kudos to HaAretz, a leftwing Israeli newspaper that advocates negotiations with Hamas, for reporting this story. Unfortunately, I do not read Italian, and it is unlikely that the Los Angeles Times will pick up this story.