A population study released on the Harvard Dataverse by Israeli scholar Prof. Yaakov Garb estimates that at least 377,000 Palestinians have gone missing in Gaza since Israel’s military campaign began in October 2023, with children representing roughly half of those unaccounted for.
Drawing on Israeli military figures, satellite imagery and United Nations demographic data, the analysis finds that Gaza’s population has dropped to about 1.85 million from 2.227 million before the war—an unexplained deficit of about 17 percent. Garb contends the gap points to a far higher death toll than the 61,000 fatalities officially reported by Gaza’s health ministry, though he notes some of the missing may be displaced or outside the enclave.
The report also criticises the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, saying its aid compounds lie inside Israeli-controlled buffer zones that force civilians into repeated, hazardous crossings and have led to hundreds of additional casualties.
Estimates of wartime fatalities remain disputed. A Haaretz opinion column on 6 July argued that an earlier pre-print claiming 100,000 deaths suffered from methodological flaws. Separately, Al Arabiya reported that about 150,000 Gazans have crossed into Egypt, mainly for medical treatment or family reunification, adding another layer of uncertainty to population accounting.
Amid the demographic controversy, Israeli Channel 12 said the government is studying plans to set up a demilitarised “humanitarian zone” in southern Gaza where residents would live under a civilian administration until post-war reconstruction. The proposal has not yet been formally announced.
Around 150,000 Palestinians from #Gaza have moved to #Egypt, mostly to join family or receive medical care. But Egypt will not allow mass migration, as it would support Israeli goals to depopulate Gaza, says Dr. Jamal Abdul Jawad, Senior Research Fellow. #WNews
The article published by Haaretz on June 26 about 100,000 dead in Gaza reports on a pre-print study that had yet to be peer reviewed. Here are the issues with its methodology and how it can be revised | Opinion | Sergio Della Pergola
