Mariam Amash, possibly world's oldest person, dies age 124
December 23, 20128:11AM
AN Arab-Israeli woman is reported to have died at the age of 124.
If verified, it would mean she could have been the oldest documented human being ever to have lived, Israeli media reports say.
Mariam Amash, from the Arab village of Jisr al-Zarqa, about 60km north of Tel Aviv, left behind 10 children and some 300 grand- and great grandchildren, according to ynet, the online version of Israel's biggest-selling Yedioth Ahronot daily.
Her Israeli identity card states she was born in 1888.
The world's oldest person ever documented was Jeanne Calment of France who died aged 122 in 1997.
Amash told ynet several months ago that she was indeed 124 and that she remembered her year of birth, but not the exact date.
So the clerk who issued her identity card decades ago wrote 00.00.1888 in the document.
"My family therefore surprise me with a celebration and presents at the end of each year,'' she told the site.
The news comes less than a week after the Guinness Book of Records certified Jiroemon Kimura, a 115-year-old Japanese man, as the oldest living person.
He was given the title after the death of US woman Dina Manfredini, also 115.
Mainstream media reports of Mariam Amash have been few and far between. Al Jazeera reported on her age and health in 2008, when she was reportedly 120.
