The number mentioned by US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin seems to exceed casualty figures previously released by Palestinian health ministry in Gaza
During a congressional hearing on Thursday in Washington, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said that since 7 October, over 25,000 Palestinian women and children have been killed by Israel in the war on Gaza.
The statement came as an answer to a question from Congressman Ro Khanna in a hearing called, “A Review of Defense Secretary Austin’s Unannounced Absense”, by the House Armed Services Committee.
“About how many Palestinian women and children have been killed by Israel since October 7th?” Khanna asked.
“It’s over 25,000,” Austin responded.
Their explanation that he misunderstood the question and was providing a total death count seems a lot more likely than that they have their own secret accounting we’ve never heard of before and he just spilled it by accident.