Report: 14.9 Million Palestinians Worldwide, Gaza Population Drops 6% Due to Israeli Genocidal War

Watan-An official Palestinian report has presented alarming statistics highlighting the scale of injustice faced by the Palestinian people due to the Israeli occupation, especially in light of the ongoing genocidal war against the Gaza Strip. Among the most concerning revelations is a 6% decrease in Gaza’s population and the destruction of two-thirds of the housing units in the Strip, alongside intensified Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank.

The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), in a statement issued ahead of “Land Day” on March 30, stated that Israel’s attacks—ongoing since October 7, 2023—have targeted people, buildings, and vital infrastructure, reducing cities to rubble and leading to more than 50,700 martyrs across Palestine.

Based on the data, the estimated population of the State of Palestine at the end of 2024 was 5.5 million Palestinians (3.4 million in the West Bank, and 2.1 million in Gaza), with Gaza’s population decreasing by about 160,000 from 2023—a 6% drop.

Gaza Devastated, 14.9 Million Palestinians Worldwide

According to revised population estimates, the total number of Palestinians worldwide by the end of 2024 was approximately 14.9 million:

• 7.6 million outside historic Palestine

• 5.5 million in the State of Palestine

• 1.8 million within the 1948 territories

The report stated that since the start of the aggression on Gaza, Israel has destroyed over 70% of housing units in the Strip, demolishing more than 60,368 buildings, and severely damaging about 110,000 others. At least 330,000 housing units have been fully or partially destroyed—over 70% of Gaza’s residential stock. In addition, schools, universities, hospitals, mosques, churches, government buildings, and thousands of economic establishments were destroyed. Basic infrastructure—roads, water, electricity, sewage lines, and farmland—was devastated, rendering Gaza nearly uninhabitable.

Over 85% of water and sanitation facilities and assets are now fully or partially out of service.

In the West Bank, the occupation demolished over 903 buildings in 2024 alone, with dozens more destroyed in refugee camps in early 2025. Tens of thousands of residents have been displaced.

Settlement Expansion

The report also detailed the ongoing suffering due to Israeli settlements. By the end of 2024, there were 551 Israeli settlement sites and military outposts in the West Bank, comprising:

• 151 official settlements

• 256 settlement outposts, including 29 reclassified as neighborhoods of existing settlements

• 144 other classified sites (industrial zones, tourism areas, service centers, and army bases)

The year 2024 saw a significant acceleration in settlement construction, with Israel approving structural plans for over 13,000 new settlement units across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, seizing about 11,888 dunams of Palestinian land in the process.

As of the end of 2023, the number of Israeli settlers in the West Bank had reached 770,420, with:

• 336,304 settlers in Jerusalem, accounting for 43.7% of the total,
  including 240,516 in the area known as J1 (the part of Jerusalem annexed by Israel in 1967)

• 154,224 settlers in Ramallah and al-Bireh

• 107,068 in Bethlehem

• 56,777 in Salfit

• The lowest number of settlers was in Tubas, with 3,004 settlers

The ratio of settlers to Palestinians in the West Bank stands at 23.4 settlers per 100 Palestinians, with the highest in Jerusalem at 67.6 settlers per 100 Palestinians.

Land Seizure and Control

In connection with Land Day, the report noted that Israel controls over 85% of the total land area of historic Palestine.

It highlighted that, during the British Mandate up to 1947, Israelis had only exploited 1,682 km² (about 6.2% of historic Palestine). In contrast, the Israeli occupation continues to impose control over ever-larger portions of Palestinian land in the West Bank under various pretexts.

In 2024 alone, more than 46,000 dunams of land were confiscated. The report cites:

• 35 seizure orders covering about 1,073 dunams

• 5 expropriation orders covering 803 dunams

• 9 state land declarations for about 24,597 dunams

• 6 natural reserve boundary changes, resulting in the seizure of 20,000 dunams

These measures reflect a systematic policy aimed at seizing Palestinian land, preventing Palestinians from utilizing their natural resources, and advancing Israel’s de facto annexation of the West Bank.