Palestinian statistics bureau projects Gaza population down by 6% since start of war

The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) estimates that Gaza's population has fallen by about 6% since the start of Israel's war on the enclave.

Israel’s air and ground offensive has killed over 45,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The PCBS states that more than 55,000 are presumed dead, as 11,000 people remain missing. About 100,00 Palestinians that left Gaza since 7 October, 2023, it adds.

As such, the PCBS says Gaza's population has declined by around 160,000 to 2.1 million. While Israel's foreign ministry says this number is fabricated, it matches the estimate made by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). As of July 2024, OCHA estimates that about 2.1 million people remain in the Gaza Strip.

"There are catastrophic human and material losses," the PCBS wrote, "yet this aggressive, brutal Israeli aggression against all of Gaza Strip continues."

The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the UN's top court based in The Hague, ruled last January that Israel must prevent acts of genocide against Palestinians.

Multiple human rights organisations have accused Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza because of the scale of death and destruction.

In December, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that by systematically restricting and targeting Gaza’s water supply forms a campaign that amounts to “acts of genocide.”

It was the latest among a growing number of critics to accuse Israel of genocidal acts in its war in Gaza. Israel vehemently denies the allegations, saying its war is directed at Hamas militants, not Gaza's civilians.

“Human Rights Watch is once more spreading its blood libels in order to promote its anti-Israel propaganda,” Israel's Foreign Ministry