Gaza's Population Drops 6 Percent Since Conflict Breaks October 2023

Gaza refugees. (Twitter/@UNLazzarini)

JAKARTA - The Palestinian Central Statistics Bureau (PCBS) said the population in the Gaza Strip had decreased by 6 percent, since the latest Palestinian militant conflict with Israel broke out in October 2023, when nearly 55.000 people were estimated to have died while another 100.000 people left the enclave.

About 45,500 Palestinians, more than half of whom are women and children, have died since the war began but another 11,000 are missing, the bureau said, citing figures from the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

That brings the Gaza population to a decline of around 160,000 people during the war to 2.1 million, with more than one million or 47 percent of the total children under the age of 18, PCBS said.

Israel, the agency said, had "propelled brutal aggression against Gaza targeting all kinds of life there; humans, buildings and vital infrastructure, the whole family removed from civilian records. There are huge human and material losses."

PCBS added that about 22 percent of Gaza's population currently faces a very severe level of acute food vulnerability, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification criteria, a global monitor.

Included in the 22 percent is about 3,500 children who are at risk of dying from malnutrition and food, the bureau said.

Separately, Israel's Foreign Ministry said PCBS data was "fake, exaggerated, and manipulated to vilify Israel".

Israel itself faces allegations of genocide in Gaza due to the scale of death and destruction that occurred.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the United Nations' highest legal entity, ruled in January that Israel should prevent genocide against Palestinians.

Israel has repeatedly rejected allegations of genocide, saying it adheres to international law and has the right to self-defense after the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 Israelis and sparked the current war.