Believed In Iran, Questioned In Gaza: How Power Decides Which Deaths Matter | World News

Murders in Iran and murders in Gaza: Western media are facing a crisis of faith based less on evidence and more on whose suffering suits those in power. The problem is not the lack of facts, but the fact that facts are allowed to stand unquestioned.

For more than two years, every Palestinian who died in Gaza has been questioned again and again. Every injury and every murder was treated as something to be questioned rather than accepted. People kept asking whether the victims were real, whether they were actually dead, whether they were killed by bombs and bullets, whether they were civilians, or whether they were somehow responsible for their own deaths.

Testimony from Palestinians who watched their families die was rejected. Reports of doctors working without electricity were dubious. The testimonies of those who pulled the children from the rubble were considered emotionally charged and unreliable. Even the death toll announced by the Gaza Ministry of Health, which was considered a serious undercount by international experts, was declared suspicious.

The Gaza Ministry of Health reported that at least 70,117 Palestinians had been killed since the beginning of the war in late 2025, with the overwhelming majority being civilians. The United Nations and many independent researchers agree that this number reflects only a fraction of the devastation.

Deaths from traumatic injuries in the first nine months alone are estimated at around 64,000 (about 40 percent more than the ministry’s own figure). These figures do not include deaths caused by hunger, untreated diseases, thirst and collapse of sanitation systems.

Studies show that the death toll is much higher when indirect deaths are included. A July 2024 study published in The Lancet reveals this number to be more than 186,000. Since then, bombs, bullets, hunger and preventable diseases have claimed many more lives.

The Ministry of Health records deaths through hospital morgues, listing names and identification numbers. Only identifiable bodies are counted. In Gaza, many bodies are dismembered, buried under rubble, or crushed beyond recognition. Every hospital in the strip was bombed or rendered unusable at various points; This led to periods when even identifiable bodies could not be registered.

Western media continues to avoid revealing the true extent of the murder. Even the pared-down figures he publishes come wrapped in distant language. The toll is “discussed by Israel”. “Cannot be independently verified”. It is “allegedly” by “a Hamas-run health ministry.” Numbers rarely emerge as established reality.

While the murders in Gaza continued to slow down under the name of “ceasefire”, a new death crisis was reflected in global headlines.

People protesting against the regime in Iran were met with lethal force. Reporting of these deaths follows a noticeably different pattern. Based mostly on estimates from diaspora organizations such as the Human Rights Activists News Agency, the resulting death toll in Iran is readily accepted. These organizations operate without land access and without direct communications within the country. Their numbers are quickly moving from predictions to headlines.

CBS reported Tuesday that “two sources, including one inside Iran,” told reporters that “at least 12,000 people were killed and possibly as many as 20,000.” The report stated that foreign journalists were banned from entering Iran and cited widespread communication blackouts. The numbers were still reliable and newsworthy. The headline read: “More than 12,000 feared dead following Iran protests as video shows bodies lined up in morgue.”

Once upon a time, the images that flooded the screens from Gaza told a different story. Videos showing rows of corpses, images of children being burned alive in tents, and photos of mass graves have never carried enough weight to accurately reveal the Palestinian death toll.

This model extends far beyond a single outlet.

Since the protests began in Iran, Western media have adopted a more flexible understanding of what qualifies as reliable information during a crisis when they cannot directly access it. Numbers based on anonymous sources and remote networks are rapidly gaining legitimacy.

The deaths of Palestinians, carefully recorded under conditions of bombardment and siege, were viewed with suspicion. Iranian deaths, transmitted through opposition channels thousands of kilometers away, are gaining credence.

The explanation for this lies in political benefit.

Deaths in Iran reinforce narratives that serve US interests. They support calls for repression, intervention and regime change framed in the language of human rights and democracy. Each reported death becomes part of a familiar scenario.

This does not diminish the reality of Iran’s suffering. People who resist the regime are dying. Their courage and their lives matter. Their deaths deserve attention and concern.

The problem lies in how this tragedy has been magnified by media outlets that for years refused to believe Palestinians documenting their own destruction. Palestinians said they were being hunted while waiting for help. They explained that babies froze and died of hunger because tents, timber and food were prevented from entering Gaza. They published thousands of names, including pages filled exclusively with children under 16. The United Nations called these figures, although marginal, the most reliable figures available.

Faith never came.

The deaths of Palestinians reveal the violence, impunity and cruelty entrenched in the international order anchored by US power. Iran’s deaths, caused by a government that Washington opposes, allow the same power to present itself as a savior.

Selective faith becomes a perfected practice. The death toll in Iran, based on estimates and anonymous sources, gains instant credibility. The Palestinian death toll, based on hospital records, morgues and names, requires endless verification. It reveals the collapse of moral consistency. Death is weighed against political utility. Some institutions demand outrage and action, while others invite silence and skepticism.

Until the Western media confronts its role in deciding which deaths are believable and which are disposable, it will remain deeply immersed in the violence it claims to exclusively cover.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the editorial position of Zee News)