Latest news with #YaakovGarb
Winnipeg Free Press
3 days ago
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
FACT FOCUS: Posts misrepresent report to falsely claim nearly 400,000 Palestinians are missing
As the number of Palestinians killed in the Israel-Hamas war continues to rise, social media users are falsely claiming that a Harvard University study has determined that hundreds of thousands in the Gaza Strip are also missing. 'Israel has 'disappeared' nearly 400,000 Palestinians in Gaza since 2023,' reads one X post that had been shared and liked more than 35,700 times as of Thursday. 'Harvard has now confirmed what we've been screaming into a deaf world: This is a holocaust — and it's still happening.' But Harvard did not publish the report in question. Moreover, these claims misrepresent data from the report that was intended to address an entirely unrelated topic. Here's a closer look at the facts. CLAIM: A Harvard University study found that nearly 400,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are missing as a result of the Israel-Hamas war. THE FACTS: Harvard published no such study. This estimate misrepresents a map included in a report by a professor at Israel's Ben Gurion University that shows the distance between new aid distribution compounds in Gaza and three main populations centers. Using spatial analysis, the report determined that these compounds are inadequate and also does not address how many people in Gaza are missing. It was published on the Harvard Dataverse, a repository managed by the university where researchers can share their work. Contributors do not need to be affiliated with Harvard and publish directly to the repository without approval from the university. 'If anyone had asked me about these numbers I would have set things straight right away,' said the Yaakov Garb, a professor of environmental studies who authored the report. 'Instead the number was circulated and recirculated by people who had not read the report or stopped to think about it for a moment.' The inaccurate estimate comes from a post on the blogging site Medium. In the post, the author uses a map from Garb's report showing how many people live in what are currently Gaza's three main population centers — Gaza City, central refugee camps and the Muwasi area — according to estimates from the Israeli Defense Forces, to determine how many Palestinians are allegedly unaccounted for. The author subtracts the former number — 1.85 million — from the population in Gaza before the Israel-Hamas war began — 2.227 million — for a total of 377,00 missing people. But the numbers on the map are not comprehensive. 'These IDF numbers were not intended to sum to 100% of the Gaza population,' Garb said. 'There may be Gazans in other locations outside these areas of concentration.' Many Palestinians also have left Gaza since the war began in October 2023, a fact the Medium post does not take into account. The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics said in January that about 100,000 had left. According to Garb, the map was meant to show how difficult it would be for people in these areas to reach new aid distribution compounds. He also noted that it had a typo, which he intends to fix. There are approximately 700,000 people in the Muwasi area, not 500,000. The author of the Medium post did not respond to a request for comment. Other estimates have put the number of missing people, typically defined as those who are dead under the rubble of Gaza, much lower than what the Medium post alleges. A June 2024 study published in The Lancet, for example, found that between about 15,000 to 38,000 people could have been missing at that time. 'Clearly time has passed, and more have died and been buried under rubble. But it is unlikely that numbers of people buried under rubble could increase to 400,000 since then,' said Shelly Culbertson, a senior policy researcher at RAND who studies disaster and post-conflict recovery. She added that even if missing people included those who had completely lost communication with their families, it is unlikely that the number would reach 400,000. Garb lamented the negative impact this type of misinformation could have for Palestinians and those trying to help them. 'If somebody like me who's doing serious work thinks twice next time about, oh my god, do I even want to put out something about Gaza if I have to sully myself with this stuff, they've done a disservice — done a disservice to the Palestinian cause, which they are ostensibly trying to further. I mean, they need to realize that,' he said. ___ Find AP Fact Checks here:
Hamilton Spectator
3 days ago
- Politics
- Hamilton Spectator
FACT FOCUS: Posts misrepresent report to falsely claim nearly 400,000 Palestinians are missing
As the number of Palestinians killed in the Israel-Hamas war continues to rise, social media users are falsely claiming that a Harvard University study has determined that hundreds of thousands in the Gaza Strip are also missing. 'Israel has 'disappeared' nearly 400,000 Palestinians in Gaza since 2023,' reads one X post that had been shared and liked more than 35,700 times as of Thursday. 'Harvard has now confirmed what we've been screaming into a deaf world: This is a holocaust — and it's still happening.' But Harvard did not publish the report in question. Moreover, these claims misrepresent data from the report that was intended to address an entirely unrelated topic. Here's a closer look at the facts. CLAIM: A Harvard University study found that nearly 400,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are missing as a result of the Israel-Hamas war. THE FACTS: Harvard published no such study. This estimate misrepresents a map included in a report by a professor at Israel's Ben Gurion University that shows the distance between new aid distribution compounds in Gaza and three main populations centers. Using spatial analysis, the report determined that these compounds are inadequate and also does not address how many people in Gaza are missing. It was published on the Harvard Dataverse , a repository managed by the university where researchers can share their work. Contributors do not need to be affiliated with Harvard and publish directly to the repository without approval from the university. 'If anyone had asked me about these numbers I would have set things straight right away,' said the Yaakov Garb, a professor of environmental studies who authored the report. 'Instead the number was circulated and recirculated by people who had not read the report or stopped to think about it for a moment.' The inaccurate estimate comes from a post on the blogging site Medium. In the post, the author uses a map from Garb's report showing how many people live in what are currently Gaza's three main population centers — Gaza City, central refugee camps and the Muwasi area — according to estimates from the Israeli Defense Forces, to determine how many Palestinians are allegedly unaccounted for. The author subtracts the former number — 1.85 million — from the population in Gaza before the Israel-Hamas war began — 2.227 million — for a total of 377,00 missing people. But the numbers on the map are not comprehensive. 'These IDF numbers were not intended to sum to 100% of the Gaza population,' Garb said. 'There may be Gazans in other locations outside these areas of concentration.' Many Palestinians also have left Gaza since the war began in October 2023, a fact the Medium post does not take into account. The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics said in January that about 100,000 had left. According to Garb, the map was meant to show how difficult it would be for people in these areas to reach new aid distribution compounds. He also noted that it had a typo, which he intends to fix. There are approximately 700,000 people in the Muwasi area, not 500,000. The author of the Medium post did not respond to a request for comment. Other estimates have put the number of missing people, typically defined as those who are dead under the rubble of Gaza, much lower than what the Medium post alleges. A June 2024 study published in The Lancet , for example, found that between about 15,000 to 38,000 people could have been missing at that time. 'Clearly time has passed, and more have died and been buried under rubble. But it is unlikely that numbers of people buried under rubble could increase to 400,000 since then,' said Shelly Culbertson, a senior policy researcher at RAND who studies disaster and post-conflict recovery. She added that even if missing people included those who had completely lost communication with their families, it is unlikely that the number would reach 400,000. Garb lamented the negative impact this type of misinformation could have for Palestinians and those trying to help them. 'If somebody like me who's doing serious work thinks twice next time about, oh my god, do I even want to put out something about Gaza if I have to sully myself with this stuff, they've done a disservice — done a disservice to the Palestinian cause, which they are ostensibly trying to further. I mean, they need to realize that,' he said. ___ Find AP Fact Checks here: . Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
San Francisco Chronicle
3 days ago
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
FACT FOCUS: Posts misrepresent report to falsely claim nearly 400,000 Palestinians are missing
As the number of Palestinians killed in the Israel-Hamas war continues to rise, social media users are falsely claiming that a Harvard University study has determined that hundreds of thousands in the Gaza Strip are also missing. 'Israel has 'disappeared' nearly 400,000 Palestinians in Gaza since 2023,' reads one X post that had been shared and liked more than 35,700 times as of Thursday. 'Harvard has now confirmed what we've been screaming into a deaf world: This is a holocaust — and it's still happening.' Here's a closer look at the facts. CLAIM: A Harvard University study found that nearly 400,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are missing as a result of the Israel-Hamas war. THE FACTS: Harvard published no such study. This estimate misrepresents a map included in a report by a professor at Israel's Ben Gurion University that shows the distance between new aid distribution compounds in Gaza and three main populations centers. Using spatial analysis, the report determined that these compounds are inadequate and also does not address how many people in Gaza are missing. It was published on the Harvard Dataverse, a repository managed by the university where researchers can share their work. Contributors do not need to be affiliated with Harvard and publish directly to the repository without approval from the university. 'If anyone had asked me about these numbers I would have set things straight right away,' said the Yaakov Garb, a professor of environmental studies who authored the report. 'Instead the number was circulated and recirculated by people who had not read the report or stopped to think about it for a moment.' The inaccurate estimate comes from a post on the blogging site Medium. In the post, the author uses a map from Garb's report showing how many people live in what are currently Gaza's three main population centers — Gaza City, central refugee camps and the Muwasi area — according to estimates from the Israeli Defense Forces, to determine how many Palestinians are allegedly unaccounted for. The author subtracts the former number — 1.85 million — from the population in Gaza before the Israel-Hamas war began — 2.227 million — for a total of 377,00 missing people. But the numbers on the map are not comprehensive. 'These IDF numbers were not intended to sum to 100% of the Gaza population,' Garb said. 'There may be Gazans in other locations outside these areas of concentration.' Many Palestinians also have left Gaza since the war began in October 2023, a fact the Medium post does not take into account. The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics said in January that about 100,000 had left. According to Garb, the map was meant to show how difficult it would be for people in these areas to reach new aid distribution compounds. He also noted that it had a typo, which he intends to fix. There are approximately 700,000 people in the Muwasi area, not 500,000. Other estimates have put the number of missing people, typically defined as those who are dead under the rubble of Gaza, much lower than what the Medium post alleges. A June 2024 study published in The Lancet, for example, found that between about 15,000 to 38,000 people could have been missing at that time. 'Clearly time has passed, and more have died and been buried under rubble. But it is unlikely that numbers of people buried under rubble could increase to 400,000 since then," said Shelly Culbertson, a senior policy researcher at RAND who studies disaster and post-conflict recovery. She added that even if missing people included those who had completely lost communication with their families, it is unlikely that the number would reach 400,000. Garb lamented the negative impact this type of misinformation could have for Palestinians and those trying to help them. 'If somebody like me who's doing serious work thinks twice next time about, oh my god, do I even want to put out something about Gaza if I have to sully myself with this stuff, they've done a disservice — done a disservice to the Palestinian cause, which they are ostensibly trying to further. I mean, they need to realize that," he said.
Days of Palestine
3 days ago
- Politics
- Days of Palestine
Harvard Report Reveals 377,000 Missing in Gaza, Half Believed to Be Children
DayofPal– A new report published in the Harvard Dataverse has revealed that approximately 377,000 people are missing in Gaza since October 2023, with nearly half of them believed to be children. The findings suggest that the real death toll in the enclave may be significantly higher than the current official estimate of 56,000. The report, authored by Israeli environmental and policy researcher Professor Yaakov Garb, uses spatial mapping and data-driven analysis to examine the human impact of Israeli military operations and an ongoing blockade on aid. Garb argues that the population loss in Gaza points to a humanitarian catastrophe of far greater scale than publicly acknowledged. According to Garb's research, Gaza's pre-war population was estimated at 2.227 million. Today, however, only about 1.85 million people remain: roughly one million in Gaza City, 500,000 in the southern al-Mawasi 'safe zone', and 350,000 in central Gaza. The 377,000-person discrepancy remains unaccounted for, raising grave questions about the true number of fatalities and the fate of many displaced individuals. 'While some may be displaced or missing,' the report notes, 'the scale of the gap has led analysts to conclude that a significant number are likely dead,' indicating that the real number of casualties may be 'many times higher' than officially reported. The report also delivers a scathing assessment of the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), whose aid distribution model is portrayed as dangerously inadequate and strategically problematic. Garb contends that the GHF's structure and operations have been shaped more by Israeli military objectives than by humanitarian imperatives. Using location data and spatial analysis, the report demonstrates that most of Gaza's population could not reach GHF aid compounds due to severe infrastructure damage, limited transport, and the absence of secure access routes. Garb writes that the design of these compounds 'seems likely to be an engine for continuous friction and mishap,' emphasizing that the logistics of aid distribution forced civilians to make 'repeated, dangerous crossings into militarized zones.' In a particularly concerning detail, the report points out that four of the five GHF aid compounds lie south of the Morag corridor, a location Israeli officials have previously identified as the intended destination for Palestinian displacement ahead of intensified military action. 'The fact that four of the five compounds lie south of the Morag corridor, repeatedly indicated by Israeli officials as the intended destination for concentration of Palestinians to be displaced from the remainder of Gaza in an impending intensification of the military attacks, is not reassuring,' the report warns. Furthermore, the report describes scenes of chaos and disorder at aid sites, noting the lack of basic humanitarian infrastructure, including shade, water, sanitation facilities, first aid, and accommodations for the elderly or disabled. With only a single point of entry and exit, no crowd management, and minimal safety protocols, the compounds were prone to unrest, which, Garb argues, was then used to justify military violence. 'Overall, these aid compounds seem to reflect a logic of control, not assistance,' the report concludes. 'It would be a misnomer to call them 'humanitarian aid distribution hubs'. They do not adhere to humanitarian principles, and much of their design and operation is guided by other objectives, which undermine their declared purpose.' Since GHF operations began on May 17, the Palestinian Health Ministry reports at least 450 deaths and 3,500 injuries resulting from Israeli attacks near or on the way to aid distribution sites. Shortlink for this post:
France 24
4 days ago
- Politics
- France 24
Did a ‘Harvard report' reveal 377,000 Gazans are ‘missing'? The number has been misinterpreted
'A Harvard report reveals that 377,000 people are missing in Gaza (probably dead under the rubble),' published Abdal Karim Ewaida, Palestinian ambassador to the Ivory Coast, on X, who maintained that this figure 'is based on Israeli military data'. The figure was also shared by media outlets such as Middle East Monitor and The New Arab, and by hard-left France Unbowed MP Rima Hassan on Instagram. On X, many accounts have also shared the visual of this number taken from the account of Palestinian Jimmy J (see front page photo), whose post has already garnered almost 1.5 million views. An Israeli study, not from Harvard University All these publications refer to a "Harvard report". But no Harvard report has published such results. In fact, the study everyone is pointing to is by Yaakov Garb, a researcher at Israel's Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Published on June 3, 2025, the report does not deal with the dead and missing during the war in Gaza, but with the problems linked to the humanitarian aid distribution centres set up by Israel at the end of May with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). This study does not come from Harvard University. However, it was published on the Harvard Dataverse, an online repository managed by Harvard University for researchers to make their publications and databases available. As for the number in question, it actually stems from a misreading of this study published in a blog post on Medium. On June 10, an internet user named 'Maximilian' published on this platform an analysis of Garb's study entitled 'The grim arithmetic: IDF data reveals 377,000 Palestinians unaccounted for'. Although this figure was never published by Garb, 'Maximilian' claimed to have found an 'unspoken number', backing up their analysis by referring to the maps published in the study. The maps showed three population 'clusters' on the territory whose population the Israeli army announced at the end of May it wanted to displace. They indicated the number of inhabitants in each of the "clusters": Gaza City, with a population of 1 million people, the coastal region of Al-Mawasi, with 500,000 residents, and the centre of the Gaza Strip, with 350,000. This totals 1.85 million inhabitants. 'Maximilian' deduced that by subtracting the number of inhabitants of Gaza before October 7, i.e. 2.227 million inhabitants according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, you end up with 377,000 'missing' Gazans. An error in the map: 700,000 inhabitants in Al-Mawasi, not 500,000 What can we say about this conclusion? Contacted by the FRANCE 24 Observers team on June 24, Yaakov Garb said he was initially surprised by this 'strange misreading' of the figures given by the Israeli army at the end of May 2025. As stated in the article, 'the population estimates in the enclaves are from IDF sources reported in the media'. The article also states that these clusters 'are very approximate indications of the three enclaves of Gazan populations'. But after rechecking the figures on his map against the Israeli army's announcement, he realised that there was a typo in the figures for Al-Mawasi: the number given by the Israeli army and reported in the media was actually 700,000 inhabitants, and not 500,000. "I'm going to correct that immediately," he told FRANCE 24 Observers, explaining that he would issue a revised version of his article. He added: 'My main argument in this map was that most of the population (the one million inhabitants of Gaza and a large proportion of those in the central zone) is far from the location of the humanitarian compounds, which remains the case. I didn't even assume that this was the entire population of Gaza – that the figures add up to 100% - but simply a representation of the central concentrations.' 'It's a bit worrying that someone would rely on a typo in a map as evidence of genocide without first asking," he continued. "There are enough horrible things happening in Gaza that this kind of echo chamber amplification of a typo doesn't help anyone.' This error explains the misunderstandings and misinterpretations, since the Israeli army counted 2,050,000 Gazans, not 1,850,000. 56,077 Gazans killed, 11,000 missing, 100,000 fleeing But what do we know about the exact figures of those killed, displaced, or missing in Gaza? According to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, 56,077 Gazans have been killed – and 131,848 wounded – since October 7, 2023, according to the June 24, 2025 count. About casualty figures from Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry: Gaza's health ministry collects data from the enclave's hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent. The health ministry does not report how Palestinians were killed, whether from Israeli airstrikes and artillery barrages or errant Palestinian rocket fire. It describes all casualties as victims of 'Israeli aggression'. The ministry also does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Throughout four wars and numerous skirmishes between Israel and Hamas, UN agencies have cited the Hamas-run health ministry's death tolls in regular reports. The International Committee of the Red Cross and Palestinian Red Crescent also use the numbers. In the aftermath of war, the UN humanitarian office has published final death tolls based on its own research into medical records. The UN's counts have largely been consistent with the Gaza health ministry's, with small discrepancies. For more on the Gaza health ministry's tolls, click here. (FRANCE 24 with AP) The death toll in Gaza could even be higher than that published by the Gaza health ministry, according to a study published in January by British medical journal The Lancet. The study, which covered the first nine months of the war between Israel and Hamas – from October 7, 2023, to June 30, 2024 – estimated that the death toll in Gaza is around 40% higher than that recorded by the Palestinian territory's health ministry. According to the latest available figures published at the end of 2024 by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, 100,000 people have also left the Gaza Strip since the start of the war. To this day, many uncertainties remain as to the number of missing persons still under the rubble. According to local reports put forward by the UN on April 20, 2025, this figure is expected to exceed 11,000 people. On June 20, 2025, the UN estimated that 1.9 million people had been displaced since the start of the war, representing 90% of Gaza's population.
