JERUSALEM – The population of Gaza has fallen by 6% since the war with Israel began nearly 15 months ago, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS). Approximately 100,000 Palestinians have left the enclave, while more than 55,000 are presumed dead. The current population stands at 2.1 million, with over a million (47%) being children under the age of 18.
The PCBS reported that around 45,500 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, have been killed since the war began, with another 11,000 missing. The bureau added that Israel has “raged a brutal aggression against Gaza targeting all kinds of life there; humans, buildings, and vital infrastructure… entire families were erased from the civil register.”
Israel’s foreign ministry dismissed the PCBS data as “fabricated, inflated, and manipulated in order to vilify Israel”. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled last January that Israel must prevent acts of genocide against Palestinians, while Pope Francis suggested the global community should study whether Israel’s Gaza campaign constitutes genocide.
The PCBS also highlighted that 22% of Gaza’s population currently faces catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity, with some 3,500 children at risk of death due to malnutrition and lack of food.