The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) said in a report released Tuesday that about 100,000 Palestinians had left Gaza since the beginning of the war on October 7, 2023, in addition to at least 45,553 who were killed in Israeli attacks in the strip, according to official figures by the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the enclave.
The report also warned 60,000 pregnant women in Gaza were “endangered” due to the lack of adequate healthcare and 96 percent of the population were facing high levels of food insecurity.
Gaza’s population now stands at 2.1 million, including more than a million children under the age of 18, making up 47 percent of the population, PCBS’s report added.
Meanwhile, a separate report by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) found that Israel’s population was still growing – but more slowly than before – in a trend it attributed to Israelis leaving the country.
The Israeli report cautioned, however, that the full impact of Israel’s multi-front war on long-term migration pattern was yet to be seen.
In the report published Tuesday, the census office said that in 2024, Israel’s population grew by 1.1 percent, compared to 1.6 percent in 2023.
“The decrease is mainly due to the high number of Israelis emigrating from Israel in 2024,” it said, adding that last year, some 82,700 residents left Israel, compared to 55,000 the year before.
By December 31, 2024, Israel’s population was estimated at 10.027 million, the report said, topping the 10-million mark for the first time. However, the report included foreign nationals in the country as part of its count.
Israel has also been rocked by political turmoil. In 2023, it was shaken by mass protests against controversial plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to overhaul the country’s judicial system.
It then launched a war on Hamas in Gaza after the Palestinian militant group led brutal attacks that killed more than 1,200 people and kidnapped more than 250 on October 7, 2023. Israel’s attacks since then have killed more than 45,000 people and injured 108,000 in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the strip.
Israel is also fighting against the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon, which began firing at Israel on October 8, 2023, as well as conflicts with Iran, the Houthis in Yemen, and militants in Syria and Iraq who say they are attacking Israel in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
