B'Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, posted their results on-line, which has been covered by media outlets, such as the VOA, AFP, Ha'aretz and CNN.
They found that Israeli security forces killed 1,387 Palestinians, 773 of whom did not take part in the hostilities, including 320 minors and 109 women over the age of 18. Of those killed, 330 took part in the hostilities, and 248 were Palestinian police officers, most of whom were killed in aerial bombings of police stations on the first day of the operation. The group could not determine whether the remaining 36 participated in the hostilities or not.
These numbers more closely reflect Hamas' estimates, and contradict the Israeli government's. Israel suggests the death toll is lower: 1,166 Palestinians were killed. It considers the majority of fatalities, 709 of them, to be militants.
They also disagreed on the number of children killed. B'Tselem said 252 children under the age of 16 and 111 women were among those killed, while the military put the figures at 89 and 49 respectively.
Ha'aretz reported on methodological and evidence-gathering differences between the Israeli government and the independent group:
Unlike the IDF, however, B'Tselem listed each casualty by name, and said it had collected eyewitness testimony, death certificates or other evidence for each.Currently, there are more problems in Gaza. The United Nations reported Gaza is in the worst condition since 1967.
The organization's spokeswoman, Sarit Michaeli, told Haaretz that B'Tselem researchers had examined every possible source of information, from the findings of in-house IDF investigations to lists prepared by Palestinian human rights organizations. However, she said, they were unable to compare their fatality list to that of the IDF, because the army refused to give it to them.
