"Authorities" = the Gaza Media Office. Up until now, the counts have been from the Gaza Health Ministry.

Not that I doubt the numbers - frankly I think they are likely higher - but it bears saying that the new figure comes from a body with less authority on the matter.

Meanwhile, for all Israel says of "those are numbers from Hamas" or whatever excuse they give, Israel have never (to my knowledge) provided their own numbers to counter the claim, nor said what would be an "acceptable" number of civilian casualties for their campaign.

The real purpose of all this is to use up weapons stockpiles and sell more. Change my mind.