An interview with British military expert Maj (ret.) Andrew Fox on why Hamas casualty numbers don’t add up and why the media is so intent on parroting the Hamas narrative.

By Rolene Marks

Since the atrocities of 7 October, the information battlefield has been one of the most insidious in recent history. In the wake of 7 October, instead of the empathy that should have been afforded victims of terror, Israel and Jewish communities around the world have been faced with news networks, university campuses and the streets of major cities propagating the Hamas propaganda party line.

Maj (ret.) Andrew Fox, a military expert specializing in defense, the Middle East, and disinformation as well as a frequent commentator on major news networks, was recently in Israel and shared with the writer his perspective on Hamas casualty figures and the narrative war.

As a research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society – a think tank that “works across borders and party lines to combat extremism, advance democracy and real human rights” – Fox, in December 2024, released his report, “Questionable Counting: Analyzing the Death Toll from the Hamas-Run Ministry of Health in Gaza”. In his accompanying forward, he reveals astonishingly that:

“ – The reporting of these figures has been analyzed by a group of international scholars, who meticulously analyzed reports of Gaza war fatalities from February 2024 through May 2024.  – They examined 1,378 articles from major English-language newspapers and media outlets, specifically The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, CNN, the BBC, Reuters, The Associated Press and the Australian ABC. Over that four-month period, 84% of those publications failed to make the critical distinction in total numbers between combatant deaths and civilian deaths.

– Only 5% of the surveyed media organizations cited numbers released by the Israeli authorities, while 98% cited fatality figures provided by the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health.

– In 19% of media reports examined, numbers provided by Hamas-run institutions were used without citing any source, thereby suggesting those figures were undisputed.

– fewer than one in every 50 articles mentioned that the figures provided by the MoH were unverifiable or controversial. (Strikingly, the Israeli statistics had their credibility questioned in half of the few articles that incorporated them.)

-This report raises serious concerns that the Gaza MoH figures have been overstated. The data behind their figures contains natural deaths, deaths from before this conflict began and deaths of those killed by Hamas itself; it contains no mention of Hamas combatant fatalities; and it overstates the number of women and children killed.”

Meticulously researched and referenced, the report, presents clear indications that Hamas are padding casualty numbers. Despite this, many in the media seem to repeat, without question, whatever Hamas say. WHY?

The first reason he explains, “is human desire not to admit when they are wrong and we do not understand how powerful this is because it means that they have to admit that they have been wrong for the last 18 months. If your new agency’s credibility is reliant on inputs of cash, to admit you are wrong – it’s not going to happen. It is not financially feasible. The second reason is the power of the narrative and the power of a story to be engaging and get people’s buy-in. Once you have achieved the dominance of your narrative, it’s very difficult to present another narrative, and the third reason is antisemitism. While everything is not antisemitism, certainly there are biases.” While in Israel, Fox participated as a panelist at the Conference against Antisemitism, hosted by the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs.  

Fox’s report is not the only published study backed by empirical evidence to be largely ignored. He refers to the All-Party Parliamentary Commission (APPC) report by respected historian, Lord Roberts – “who is not Israeli” and that Israel “is not his area of focus” – into the atrocities of 7 October that lays bare the depravity of the attacks in excruciating detail with maps and references. Released earlier this month, “…it was utterly dismissed out of hand,”  and suspects “there will be a very strong counter campaign with Qatari money thrown at it. I had the same thing with my report… the Palestinians campaign has ten times the supporters that Israel does. Ultimately – it’s a numbers game.”

Antisemitism in the form of anti-Zionism or what some may even call “Israelophobia”, seems to be institutionalized in a lot of the legacy media – traditional media that dominated prior to the internet.  An obvious example is the BBC, which has had to apologise several times for erroneous reports. “It is institutional with the BBC,” says Fox. “Twice this year they have had to put out major apologies breaching their own impartiality guidelines when they platform Hamas royalty in a documentary about kids in Gaza using kids whose family members are Hamas, or when they email the Israeli embassy asking for a speaker that is specifically anti-Netanyahu. There are three parts to an apology, I am sorry, it’s my fault and I will do better – they haven’t really done that third part at all. It is endemic and institutionalized.”

The IDF has faced a lot of criticism from many journalists complaining about not being freely allowed to enter into Gaza. Some argue this strategy has impaired Israel’s ability to present the facts on the ground but Fox responds that the reasoning of the IDF is sound. “Journalists in war don’t just run around doing what they want… If you give journalists a free reign in Gaza, they will either do what Hamas tells them to do or they will be killed – and that will be blamed on the IDF anyway. From a military perspective, you don’t want anyone filming an airstrike because they don’t have all the supporting data to report fairly without knowing what went into the targeting process.” Continuing, Fox relates of  when he flew to Israel with John McColl, a retired 4 star general and Deputy Former Supreme Allied Commander of Europe, “who was very anti-IDF. All week he was pushing the IDF like a hawk – and then came home and wrote an op-ed saying he was happy and convinced Israel is doing everything to protect civilians and that’s what the IDF should be showing journalists. You can’t send journalists in with fighting troops, that is too dangerous. You can’t embed a journalist; it is too dangerous, fighting in Gaza is a 360-degree war – you have high rise buildings, ground level, underground. As a soldier, I would probably refuse to take a journalist into that battle.”

Fox also expresses concern that we are in a very dangerous information environment when people are turning to social media for information because of the 24-hour news cycle and very often what is posted is not factual and has not been verified. In the rush to make the news cycle, journalists are also not fact checking properly.

More than just a military expert, Fox also addressed the issue of antisemitism, having just attended the Conference on Antisemitism in Jerusalem. Says Fox: “The fight against antisemitism is THE most important thing to me. The stories I hear from my friends are just shocking.”

When asked what communities around the world could be doing better, he replies, “We are not going to stop 2000 years of antisemitism; it is not something we can defeat. I have noticed that the tone and flavor of antisemitism differs from one country to the next. From a British perspective, most people don’t care one way or the other, this is just another Middle Eastern war but there is a small but very loud group with loud volume that draws attention. It is not easy but I would work to bring the silent majority onto your side. Maybe move out of circling the wagons as which I can totally understand because if you are being constantly abused – the natural instinct is to do that.”

Coming from a British perspective, Fox suggests “to make it about a community that is part of the country. The marches for Palestine are horrendous and very un-British. What I would suggest is wave also the flags of the country where you live, in this case, British. It shows the Jewish community is proudly part of the country. Say more about Jewish contributions to the world, the amazing and fun things about Israel and its people, its great food and beautiful scenery. “ So important stresses Fox, “Is how you frame it!”

• Feature picture: Andrew Fox, addressing conference in Jerusalem flanked by Israeli journalist Danny Zaken (left) and Maj (ret.) John W. Spencer. (Photo: Ministry of Diaspora Affairs).

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