Re the article "Gaza Civilians, Under Israeli Barrage, Are Being Killed at Historic Pace," we really have no idea of how many fatalities, terrorist or civilian, there have been in Gaza during the war Hamas launched with its barbaric 10/7 terror attack. The ultimate source of all the statistics is Hamas, which is notorious for providing grossly inflated casualty counts and counting terrorists as civilians.

What we do know is the following:

A large proportion of the fatalities in Gaza, likely an historically high proportion, consists of terrorists.

The non-terrorist fatalities are a result of Hamas (and the myriad other terror groups in Gaza) using civilians as human shields, operating from and underneath civilian areas, from homes, schools, mosques, hospitals and playgrounds. Put another way, all the deaths are the responsibility of the terrorists in Gaza, not Israel.

Rather than misusing phony statistics provided by terrorists to malign Israel, The New York Times might try to suggest some alternative to what Israel has been doing that wouldn't ultimately cause more death, particular more deaths among innocent civilians. I have yet to see any critic of Israel suggest anything (a) Israel hasn't already tried and which proved a miserable, deadly failure or (b) isn't a clearly misguided prescription for more death and destruction.

Sincerely,

Alan Stein