'We don't know how those children died': Israeli top adviser on child deaths in Gaza

ISTANBUL

Israeli prime ministerial advisor Mark Regev tried to suggest earlier this week that children killed in the Gaza Strip may have died by some other means than by the current Israeli onslaught.

It was pointed out in an interview Thursday with the US-based broadcaster, MSNBC, that more than 11,000 people, including 4,000 children were killed. The UN, human rights community and the American intelligence community said Friday they trust the numbers.

Regev said the numbers were put out by Hamas. "I am not sure that is true,” he said.

Journalist Medhi Hasan said in the last two major Gaza conflicts in 2009 and 2014, the death toll shared by the Gaza Health Ministry matched those of the Israeli army.

Regev responded that the numbers were published by Hamas and were not confirmed by any independent organization.

"You have no idea how many of them are Hamas terrorists, combatants and how many are civilians. Hamas would have you believe that they're all civilians, that they're all children," he said.

"Hamas ... have been in control of the Gaza Strip, and as a result, they control all the images coming out of Gaza," he said.

Regev then asked: "Have you seen one picture of a single dead Hamas terrorist in the fighting in Gaza?"

Hasan responded: "But I have seen lots of children with my own lying eyes being pulled from the rubber ... They're also people your (Israeli) government has killed ... Do you deny?" Regev response: "No, I do not. First of all, you don't know how those people died, those children.

- 'We made a mistake'

Regev accepted that the Israeli government made a mistake on the number of casualties Oct. 7: "We had the number at 1,400 casualties. And now we've revised that down to 1,200 because we understood that we had overestimated. We made a mistake."

"They're actually bodies that were so badly burnt we thought they were ours. In the end, apparently, they were Hamas terrorists," he said.

Asked about disinformation about the Israeli military's showing an Arabic calendar as the names of terrorists guarding the Al-Shifa hospital, Regev said: "I do not know Arabic ... I made a mistake, you made mistake. But there's a difference between making an honest mistake and between Hamas that deliberately exaggerates numbers to suit its propaganda purposes."

Hasan pointed out it is not the only mistake by the Israeli army and showed the Israeli prime minister's spokesman Ofir Gendelman's tweet on "fake Palestinian deaths," which was a Lebanon short film from previous years, then the reporter asked: "It's not Palestinians faking their own injuries. Can we own up to that mistake and take that down?"

Regev said: "Once again, I understand that was also a mistake."