AhlulBayt News Agency: A leading humanitarian law institute has warned that Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip may have killed more than 200,000 Palestinians, as new data indicate the enclave’s population has dropped by over 10 percent since October 2023.
The Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights said in a new report that the true death toll may exceed 200,000, citing population statistics showing a dramatic decline since the start of Israel’s assault.
Stuart Casey‑Maslen, head of the Academy’s humanitarian law project, said such a sharp decrease suggests massive loss of life, stressing that widely cited casualty figures fail to reflect the full scale of devastation.
His comments were published in the Academy’s latest “War Watch” report, which evaluates conditions in Gaza alongside 23 other conflicts worldwide over the past year and a half.
Maslen described the situation in Gaza as “extremely serious,” warning that Palestinian suffering continues despite a US‑brokered ceasefire between Hamas and Israel.
“Everyone in Gaza, especially the wounded who need evacuation and treatment, faces deeply alarming conditions,” he said, adding that “people are still dying in Gaza.”
He called for an urgent expansion of humanitarian aid, emphasizing the need for food, clean water, shelter, protection from harsh weather, and medical care.
Although most estimates agree that Israel has killed more than 70,000 Palestinians since October 2023, Maslen stressed that this number only includes bodies recovered and documented by medical teams.
He noted that many victims remain buried under rubble, meaning the real death toll could be far higher.
The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics recently reported a 10 percent population decline. Maslen said the figures require verification, but if confirmed, they would indicate human losses far beyond current reports.
“We will need time to know the exact number,” he said, “but it is clear that we are facing massive human loss, and we must understand how these people were killed.”
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 72,037 Palestinians have been killed and 171,666 injured since October 2023, with thousands more trapped under rubble due to the inability of rescue teams to reach them.
In January, the Trump administration announced the start of the second phase of the ceasefire, during which negotiations were expected to address governance and reconstruction of Gaza.
Key issues remain unresolved, including the withdrawal of Israeli forces from more than half of Gaza, while the fragile ceasefire continues to be violated almost daily by Israeli forces.
/129
Your Comment