More than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s nine-month military assault against the civilian population of the Gaza Strip. However, according to The Lancet medical journal, the number of fatalities is probably more like 186,000, shining a spotlight on how difficult it is to measure the carnage because of the restrictions Israel has placed on news reporting of the Gaza conflict.

Israel only embeds journalists with its army in the Gaza Strip if they agree to allow its censors to review all reports and videos. Reporters who refuse are banned from entering the Strip. However, independent Gaza-based reporters, mainly from Arab media outlets, have been covering the Israeli carnage and many of them have paid the ultimate price for seeking to report the truth.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 108 journalists have been killed in the war and many more wounded. It is the deadliest period for journalists in the history of the organization, which began documenting media deaths in 1992.

Last week, one CNN reporter noted that his reports were not censored or reviewed by the Israeli military, although he only interviewed the Israeli spokesperson on what was happening in Gaza.

Controlling the media and restricting and censoring news reporting in a conflict zone is the first step toward controlling the narrative. And Israel needs to ensure its spin is dominant because, while Hamas militants killed about 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7, including some soldiers, the Israelis have killed about 30 times more........

© Eurasia Review