A nonpartisan watchdog group sent a letter to top Pentagon officials this week requesting all information that led to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin‘s recent public claim that “over 25,000” Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7 — a figure based on data supplied by the Hamas militant group.
In the letter, Center to Advance Security in America (CASA) Director James Fitzpatrick questions whether publicly reciting those numbers — which the Pentagon later admitted came from Hamas data, and which can’t be independently confirmed by U.S. analysts — may have aided the group the U.S. and Israel consider a terrorist organization in pushing its public narrative that Israel is indiscriminately murdering scores of innocent civilians in Gaza.
The Washington Times is the first media outlet to report on the letter, which was delivered to Chris Meagher, assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs, and the Defense Department’s inspector general on Tuesday.
Read more here from the Washington Times.