Gaza: a study linked to Harvard alert on the “disappearance” of 377,000 Palestinians, half of whom

A study published on Harvard Dataverse – The official platform of Harvard University dedicated to the archiving and the dissemination of scientific research – says that Israel has “disappeared” at least 377,000 Palestinians since the start of the current genocide in Gaza, started in October 2023. Half of the missing people are children.

Signed by the Israeli professor Yaakov Garb (Ben Gurion University), the report is based on a rigorous analysis of field data and space cards to document the extent of the demographic disaster. He estimates that 17 % of the Gaza population – now reduced to 1.85 million inhabitants – is either moved or missing or dead. The official assessment of 61,000 deaths is, according to him, largely underestimated: it does not take into account the buried victims under the rubble, nor the people striking of the registers without explanation.

The study also points to the controversial role of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an American-Israeli aid mechanism set up in May. Garb denounces a logic of control and forced displacement, far from the humanitarian principles displayed. Since the launch of this device, hundreds of Palestinian civilians have been killed while trying to access the help. This report is added to a growing beam of alerts from the scientific and medical world. THE Lancetin January, said the actual number of deaths in Gaza could be undervalued by more than 40 %. In July 2024, the same review anticipated up to 598,000 dead if the genocide continued.