Since the start of the war with Israel in October 2023, Gaza’s population has shrunk by approximately 6 percent. About 100,000 Palestinians have fled the strip and more than 55,000 people have been killed. The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) reported this on Wednesday.
The official Palestinian death toll currently stands at 45,553, the Gaza Ministry of Health reported on Wednesday. According to the ministry, half of these victims were women and children. It is estimated that another 11,000 missing people have also died. Their remains are often still buried under the rubble and cannot be secured or identified.
This has shrunk Gaza’s total population by almost 160,000 people to 2.1 million. Nearly half of the remaining population is under the age of 18, according to the PCBS. Approximately 22 percent of Gaza’s civilians face such severe food shortages that they could be in danger of dying. According to Israel, the PCBS statistics are unreliable and are manipulated to discredit the State of Israel. These allegations were not supported by evidence.
The new year started off again deadly in Gaza, with airstrikes killing at least 28 people. Israel is targeting medical infrastructure and sanitary facilities in Gaza. Aid supplies such as food, water and medicine are also virtually not allowed into the north of Gaza, which according to Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, among others, amounts to (acts of) genocide. Doctors Without Borders also says it sees “signs of genocide”.
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Gaza population has shrunk by 6 percent since the start of the war