Gaza's population decimated: Report

The population of Gaza has dropped 6 percent during the 15 months of Israel's retaliatory assault on the besieged Palestinian territory, according to official Palestinian statistics.

With the Palestinian deaths surpassing 45,500, it is now the largest toll in the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict, according to a year-end report released by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, or PCBS, on Tuesday.

On Thursday, at least 13 Palestinians were killed and dozens injured in Israeli airstrikes targeting multiple areas in the northern and southern regions of Gaza.

The local Wafa News Agency reported that Israeli warplanes struck a makeshift tent sheltering displaced families in the al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Younis, in southern Gaza. It said the attack killed 11 people, including women and children, and left 15 others with varying degrees of injuries.

According to the report, two brothers were killed in an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza, while Israeli artillery shelled the western areas of Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

Ola Awad, president of the PCBS, noted that since Oct 7, 2023, Israel has waged "a brutal aggression" on Gaza, "targeting all kinds of life there", from humans and buildings to vital infrastructure.

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

The report also noted that the West Bank "wasn't spared from this brutal Israeli aggression, where it suffered from continuous Israeli arrests, raids, closures, and movement constraints".

According to figures released by the Palestinian Ministry of Health, 45,484 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed.

Continued aggression

"In the West Bank, the Israeli occupation continued its aggression, as 835 citizens were martyred and 6,450 others were injured as a result of the attacks by the Israeli occupation forces and settlers," the report said.

The estimated population of Palestine at the end of 2024 was 5.5 million, with 3.4 million in the West Bank. The population of Gaza for 2024 has decreased to 2.1 million, a 6 percent reduction from its estimated population in 2023.

Citing the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the PCBS estimates that 60,000 pregnant women are at risk due to the lack of healthcare in Gaza.

About 155,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women face challenges in accessing antenatal and postnatal healthcare services, the PCBS said. Thirty-six children have so far died of famine and malnutrition, the report said.

Meanwhile, Israel's foreign ministry said the PCBS data was "fabricated, inflated, and manipulated in order to vilify Israel", Reuters reported.

Iyad Eid, an assistant professor at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the International Islamic University Malaysia, told China Daily that the PCBS report serves as a "crucial official statement on the harsh realities confronting Palestinians", particularly in Gaza.

According to Eid, this suggests that while Israel may increase the number of Palestinian casualties, it "will inevitably encounter relentless resistance".

The PCBS said some 22 percent of Gaza's population currently faces catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity, according to the criteria of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a global monitor.