But the New York Times is reporting this wild guess as established fact. And it is indeed a wild guess, based on Hamas propaganda of the number of casualties and the percentage of women and children killed that even the UN no longer believes.
Contrast this with reporting about the hostage rescue. Perhaps as an initial headline it made sense when early reports were not complete, but the Times has updated the story since then - everyone knows the names and ages of the rescued hostages, their family members have been interviewed, we have photos.
Israeli statements are suspect even after they show clear documentary proof. Statements that even the source admits are made up (and the Times knows that) are reported as fact.
There is another more subtle bit of bias in the very name of the section.
Hezbollah has been shooting rockets into Israel since October 8. Houthis fired rockets towards Israel starting October 19. Rockets have been shot from Syria since at least October 24. Iraqi groups attacked Israel on November 2. And of course Islamic Jihad and other Gaza groups are also involved.
It isn't an Israel-Hamas war. It is an Israel-Iranian proxy war. By naming the conflict incorrectly, the NYT and virtually everyone else are framing Israel as the aggressor when in fact it is being attacked from literally all sides (including the Mediterranean Sea on October 7.)
