The head of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Ola Awad, reviewed the conditions of the Palestinians at the end of 2024, noting that the population of the Gaza Strip decreased by 6% by the end of 2024, with the continuation of the brutal occupation aggression on the Strip, which led, according to figures issued by the Palestinian Ministry of Health, to the martyrdom of 45,484 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, until the end of December 2024, and about 100,000 Palestinians left the Strip since the beginning of the aggression since October 7, 2023.

Awad explained in a statement issued by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics that among the martyrs, there were about 17,581 children, about 12,048 women, in addition to about 11,000 missing persons, and about 108,090 other citizens injured.

In the West Bank, the Israeli occupation continued, and based on the above data, the estimated population of the State of Palestine at the end of 2024 reached 5.5 million Palestinians (3.4 million in the West Bank, while the estimated population of the Gaza Strip for the year 2024 decreased by about 160 thousand Palestinians, to reach 2.1 million (a decrease of 6% from the population estimates for the Gaza Strip for the year 2023), including more than one million children under the age of eighteen, constituting 47% of the population of the Strip.

About 15 million Palestinians in historical Palestine and the diaspora:

According to the revised population estimates prepared by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, there are approximately 14.9 million Palestinians in the world at the end of 2024, half of whom are outside historical Palestine, as their number reached approximately 5.5 million Palestinians in the State of Palestine, including 2.8 million males, 2.7 million females, and 1.80 million in the 1948 territories.

It is also estimated that the number of Palestinians in the diaspora has reached about 7.6 million, of whom 6.4 million are in Arab countries.

65% of individuals in the State of Palestine are under 30 years of age:

By the end of 2024, the percentage of individuals (0-4 years) reached 14% of the total population in Palestine, with 13% in the West Bank and 15% in the Gaza Strip, while the percentage of individuals under 15 years reached 37%, with 35% in the West Bank and 40% in the Gaza Strip. The percentage of individuals under 30 years in Palestine reached 65% of the total population in Palestine; 63% in the West Bank and 68% in the Gaza Strip. The percentage of individuals aged (65 years and over) reached 4%.

About 60,000 pregnant women are at risk due to lack of health care in the Gaza Strip:

According to figures from the Palestinian Ministry of Health, there are approximately 60,000 pregnant women at risk due to the lack of health care in the Gaza Strip, and 13,649 pregnant women are expected to give birth in the coming month, 5,522 in the Gaza Strip and 8,127 in the West Bank. In addition, 155,000 pregnant and lactating women face difficult challenges in accessing and obtaining prenatal and postnatal health care services.

In addition, 96% of the population in the Gaza Strip (2.1 million people) are facing high levels of acute food insecurity until September 2024, including about 49,300 pregnant women. More than 495,000 people (22% of the population) are facing catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity (Phase 5), including 11,000 pregnant women. About 3,500 children are at risk of death due to malnutrition and food shortages, with 36 children killed as a result of famine and malnutrition.

As a result of the aggression, education has become an unavailable luxury. With every shell that explodes, the human right to a normal life in the Gaza Strip collapses.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education, until the end of September 2024, more than 77 government schools have been completely destroyed since the beginning of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, while 191 schools have been bombed and vandalized, including 126 government schools, 65 schools affiliated with the Relief Agency, while 98 schools in the West Bank have been vandalized since the beginning of the Israeli aggression.

More than 51 university buildings in the Gaza Strip were completely destroyed, while 57 university buildings were partially destroyed, and more than 20 universities in the Gaza Strip were severely damaged since the beginning of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, 7 universities in the West Bank were subjected to repeated raids, vandalism and tampering with their contents.

The number of martyrs among students enrolled in schools in Palestine reached 11,796 martyrs, including more than 11,714 martyrs in the Gaza Strip, and 82 martyrs in the West Bank. The number of martyrs since the beginning of the Israeli occupation aggression among students enrolled in higher education institutions in Palestine reached 796 students, including 761 students in the Gaza Strip, and 35 students in the West Bank.

The number of martyrs among teachers and administrators in schools in Palestine reached 466 martyrs, 463 of whom were martyred during the raids on the Gaza Strip, and 3 martyrs in the West Bank. Meanwhile, 121 workers, both male and female, working in higher education institutions in the Gaza Strip were killed as a result of the ongoing air raids.

The collapse of the economic system in the Gaza Strip, a sharp contraction in the productive base of the West Bank, and an unprecedented rise in unemployment rates:

Palestine is suffering from a social, humanitarian, environmental and economic catastrophe that has led to the shrinkage of the productive base and the distortion of the economic structure of Palestine, as the contribution of the Gaza Strip to the total Palestinian economy has declined to less than 5%, after representing about 17% before October 7, 2023. A year after the Israeli occupation’s aggression on the Gaza Strip and its repercussions on the West Bank, initial estimates indicate a contraction of the gross domestic product in the Gaza Strip by more than 85%, and about 22% in the West Bank, so that the Palestinian economy has declined by a third compared to what it was before October 7, 2023. The unemployment rate has also risen to 80% in the Gaza Strip and 35% in the West Bank, raising the unemployment rate in Palestine to 51%.