Hamas puts out claimed death tolls among Palestinians in three categories: total, children and women. The U.S. government disputes the figures, and for good reason, since Hamas has a long history of lying about casualties.

But even if their figures were accurate, they hide the relevant truth: how many of the dead were active Hamas terrorists? How many were directly complicit in terrorism? How many were vocal supporters of Hamas terrorism? How many 14-, 15-, 16- and 17-year olds, who Hamas counts as “children,” were in fact combatants or accessories? How many women were Hamas accessories?

How many were killed by misfiring terrorist rockets, as in the hospital parking lot? How many of those killed by Israeli fire are really totally innocent civilians, such as the very young children whose bodies Hamas eagerly displays on television? What are the actual percentages?

[Frankly, none of this is reliable. Even if Hamas acknowledged the nuances, why would we believe them? Furthermore, Hamas inflates the civilian death counts for political and strategic purposes, so they have no incentive at all to be more specific even if they decided to be accurate. They use these inflated totals to enrage other Arab populations and shame Israel’s allies into withdrawing their support. It’s an old game, but this time, Israel’s not playing it, even if some of its moral-idiot allies are. — Ed]