Response to DellaPergola and Zlochin

In their Comment in The Lancet Global Health, Sergio DellaPergola and Mark Zlochin argue that interviewer-level heterogeneity in teams Gaza9 and Gaza3 undermines our estimates and that quality-control procedures failed to detect these anomalies. Our three main conclusions—that the Ministry of Health (MoH) undercounted violent deaths, that MoH demographic reporting is broadly correct, and that non-violent excess deaths are substantial but below some projections—are robust to the exclusion of Gaza9 (Table S6).