GENEVA
Stuart Casey Maslen, head of the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, said that as of October 2023, Gaza’s population had declined by more than 10%, which would suggest roughly 200,000 deaths.
Speaking to Anadolu about the academy’s report titled ‘War Watch’, which covers the situation in Gaza and 23 armed conflicts over the past 18 months, Maslen described the situation in Gaza as “dramatic”.
“We're obviously pleased that we do not have the heavy hostilities we saw last year before the ceasefire. But that does not mean the suffering for the people of Gaza has ended. We remain deeply concerned about the predicament of all the population in Gaza,” Maslen told Anadolu.
Expressing particular concern for those who are injured and need evacuation to safe locations for proper treatment, Maslen added: “People continue to go to die in Gaza.”
Maslen emphasized that far more humanitarian aid must be provided to Gaza’s population, including food and water, and added that people also need shelter, protection from harsh winter conditions, and medical treatment.
“There's a whole series of things that we hope will change in the very near future, because the situation remains intolerable,” he said.
- Figures need verification
Maslen noted that there is consensus that at least 70,000 civilians have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, among Palestinians and Israelis.
“We do not believe that that is the final total. That's the number of bodies that have been recovered. There will be more bodies under the rubble. It will take time before the exact number is known. A report by the Central Palestinian Bureau of Statistics said that the decline in Gaza’s population was more than 10%,” Maslen said.
He added that those figures need to be verified, “but that suggests a very dramatic impact that is far in excess of the quoted 70,000 figure.”
“We're talking over 200,000 if those figures are correct. As I said, time will tell exactly what the situation is. But it's clearly a dramatic loss of life. We need to find out what the exact number is and how those people died.”
Maslen pointed out that initial steps toward rebuilding Gaza have begun, stressing that the scale of destruction in the Gaza Strip is extraordinary.
He underlined that reconstruction will not be resolved in the coming weeks or months, saying: “We have years of rebuilding if the people of Gaza are to return to anything like a sense of normality.”
Maslen also said that billions of dollars will be required for Gaza to return to conditions similar to those before October 2023.
- ‘Genocide in Gaza did not start on Oct. 7’
“I don't think the genocide in Gaza started on Oct. 7, 2023, and if we're talking about the legal definition, no,” Maslen said, adding that the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry, without specifying dates, stated clearly that genocide had taken place in Gaza.
“You have to prove, as a matter of international law, that there was an intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a protected group,” he added, noting that underlying offenses such as death, injury, and deprivation of food were found to have occurred in Gaza.
Maslen said the report examines in detail the situation in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, and 23 other armed conflict zones from July 1, 2024, to Dec. 31, 2025.
He said he does not believe the past two years will be viewed with anything other than deep sadness and regret, adding: “I hope a good degree of guilt. This should not have happened the way it happened. That doesn't justify in any way what Hamas did on Oct. 7, but nor does it justify the extent of the death and damage caused by Israel's response.”
The academic says the world is yet to see progress on the arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC). "Instead, we’ve seen sanctions imposed on the judges who issued those warrants,” he added.
Maslen said they want to see justice for all those who have been unlawfully killed, and he added that he was sure the people of Gaza want the same.
* Writing by Asiye Latife Yilmaz from Istanbul
