A new report published this month via the Harvard Dataverse reveals that at least 377,000 people in Gaza have been "disappeared" by the Israeli military since October 2023, with half of that number believed to be children.
The report, authored by Israeli professor Yaakov Garb, uses data-driven analysis and spatial mapping to examine how Israeli attacks on civilians and the obstruction of aid have led to a dramatic drop in the enclave’s population.
According to Garb's findings, the actual number of people killed may be far higher than the official death toll, which currently stands at around 61,000.
Maps in the report, based on Israeli military estimates, indicate that the remaining population in Gaza City is around one million, with 500,000 in Mawasi and 350,000 in central Gaza, totalling approximately 1.85 million.
Before the war, Gaza's population was estimated at 2.227 million. The discrepancy points to at least 377,000 people now unaccounted for.
While some may be displaced or missing, the scale of the gap has led analysts to conclude that a significant number are likely dead, suggesting the real death toll could be many times higher.
Read the article by the New Arab staff here.
The new report sheds light on how the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation's aid sites triggered the killing of scores of Palestinians [Getty]