Ramallah – Ma’an – The Central Bureau of Statistics said that the total number of Palestinians in the world reached 14.63 million people by the end of 2023, which indicates that their number has multiplied about 10 times since the events of the 1948 Nakba.

The census stated in a press release today, Sunday, on the occasion of the 76th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba, which falls on May 15, that 5.55 million of them live in the State of Palestine, and about 1.75 million in the territories of 1948, while the number of Palestinians in the Arab countries reached about 6.56 million, and about 772. Alpha in foreign countries.

He stated that the number of Palestinians in historic Palestine reached about 7.3 million, while the number of Jews is estimated at about 7.2 million by the end of 2023, which means that the number of Palestinians exceeds the number of Jews in historical Palestine, and based on these data, the Palestinians constitute 50.3% of the resident population. In historic Palestine, Jews constitu
te 49.7% of the total population, and the occupation exploits more than 85% of the total area of ??historical Palestine (27,000 km2).

The Nakba: Ongoing ethnic cleansing

The events of the Nakba of Palestine and the displacement that followed constituted a major tragedy for the Palestinian people, ethnic cleansing in its ugliest form, given that it was accompanied by the expulsion of an entire people and the replacement of groups and individuals from various parts of the world in its place, as more than a million Palestinians were displaced out of the 1.4 million who resided in Palestine. Historical year 1948.

Out of one million and 400 thousand Palestinians who were residing in 1,300 Palestinian villages and cities in 1948, one million citizens were displaced to the West Bank, Gaza Strip and neighboring Arab countries, in addition to the internal displacement of thousands of them within the lands that have been under the control of the occupation since 1948.

The Israeli occupation took control of 774 Pale
stinian villages and cities, 531 of which were completely destroyed, while the rest were subjected to the occupation and its laws. This cleansing process was accompanied by the Zionist gangs committing more than 70 massacres against the Palestinians, which led to the martyrdom of more than 15,000 Palestinians. This occupation continues. The Israelis are committing the most heinous crimes against the Palestinian people, which have escalated at a more severe rate during the current aggression against the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023.

More than 134 thousand were martyred since the Nakba of 1948:

The number of Palestinian and Arab martyrs since the Nakba in 1948 until today (inside and outside Palestine) has reached more than 134 thousand martyrs. The number of martyrs from the beginning of the Al-Aqsa Intifada in 2000 until 4/30/2024 was about 46,500 martyrs, including about 35 thousand martyrs during the Israeli aggression. The ongoing attacks on the Gaza Strip from October 7, 2023 until May 7, 2024, incl
uding more than 14,873 children, 9,801 women, and 141 journalists, in addition to 7,000 missing persons, most of whom are women and children, according to the records of the Ministry of Health. As for The West Bank, where 492 martyrs have been martyred since the start of the occupation’s aggression on October 7, 2023.

483 colonial sites and military bases in the West Bank until the end of 2022

The number of Israeli colonial sites and military bases in the West Bank reached 483 sites at the end of 2022, distributed among 151 colonies and 25 inhabited outposts that were considered neighborhoods belonging to existing colonies, 163 colonial outposts, and 144 sites classified as (industrial, tourist, service areas, and occupation army camps).

As for the number of colonists in the West Bank, it reached 745,467 colonists, until the end of 2022, and the data indicate that most of the colonists live in the Jerusalem Governorate, with 336,272 colonists (constituting 45.1% of the total colonists), of whom 246,990 col
onists are in the J1 area (which includes That part of Jerusalem Governorate which was forcefully annexed by the Israeli occupation following its occupation of the West Bank in 1967), followed by Ramallah and Al-Bireh Governorate with 149,143 colonists, 98,384 colonists in Bethlehem Governorate, and 53,455 colonists in Salfit Governorate.

As for the lowest governorates in terms of the number of colonists, it is Tubas Governorate and the Northern Jordan Valley, with 2,717 colonists, and the ratio of colonists to Palestinians in the West Bank is about 23 colonists for every 100 Palestinians, while the highest in Jerusalem Governorate was about 69 colonists for every 100 Palestinians, and the year 2023 witnessed an increase. Significant pace of construction and expansion of Israeli colonies.

The occupation authorities approved many colonial structural plans to build more than 18,000 colonial units throughout the West Bank, including Jerusalem.

$30 billion initial losses due to the occupation’s aggression agai
nst the Gaza Strip

Since the start of the aggression on the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, the occupation has destroyed more than 31 thousand buildings and severely damaged about 17 thousand buildings, while more than 41 thousand buildings were moderately damaged, bringing the number of damaged buildings to about 89 thousand buildings, including 104 affiliated buildings. To the United Nations.

The census estimated the number of housing units that were completely destroyed at no less than 86 thousand housing units, in addition to the destruction of more than 294 thousand housing units partially, constituting in total about 70% of the housing units in the Gaza Strip, in addition to the destruction of schools, universities and hospitals. Mosques, churches, government headquarters, thousands of buildings and economic facilities, and the destruction of all aspects of infrastructure, including streets, water and electricity lines, sewage lines, and the destruction of agricultural lands, making the Gaza Strip an u
nlivable place. The initial direct losses of the Israeli occupation’s aggression against the Gaza Strip were estimated at about 30 billion dollars.

As for the West Bank, during the year 2023, the occupation destroyed more than 659 buildings and facilities, completely or partially, including 70 self-demolition operations in Jerusalem, according to data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), in addition to issuing 1,333 demolition orders for Palestinian facilities under the pretext of not having a license. .

Seizing more than 50 thousand dunums during 2023

The occupation is still imposing its control over more Palestinian lands in the West Bank under various pretexts and names, and the areas seized during the year 2023 increased by about double compared to the previous year.

The statistics indicated that the occupation authorities seized about 50,526 dunums during the year 2023, compared to about 26,000 dunums during the year 2022.

The data indicate that during
the year 2023, 32 orders were issued to seize about 619 dunums, four expropriation orders for about 433 dunums, and two orders to declare state land for about 515 dunums, in addition to four orders to amend the boundaries of natural reserves through which 48,959 dunums were seized, within the policy. Systematic and continuous control of all Palestinian lands and depriving them of exploiting their natural resources.

A water crisis and hunger threaten the lives of citizens in Gaza

The people of the Gaza Strip have become deprived of the basics of life, including housing, food and water. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) indicated that at least 70% of the citizens of the Gaza Strip are at risk of famine.

Data indicate that 90% of children between the ages of 6 and 23 months and pregnant women face a severe food shortage, and more than 30 Palestinians lost their lives due to hunger and drought, most of them children. The Gaza Strip also suffers from a severe crisis in ac
cess to water. .

The statistics showed that under normal conditions in the period before October 7, the rate of per capita water consumption in the Gaza Strip during the year 2022 was estimated at approximately 84.6 liters/capita/day, and with the outbreak of the aggression, estimates indicate that the per capita share decreased to 3- 15 liters/person/day only.

The Nakba turned the Gaza Strip into the most crowded place in the world:

The population density in the State of Palestine until the end of 2023 was about 921 individuals/km2, with 582 individuals/km2 in the West Bank and 6,185 individuals/km2 in the Gaza Strip, noting that 66% of the citizens of the Gaza Strip are refugees, causing the influx of refugees to Transforming the Gaza Strip into the most densely populated place in the world, especially after the displacement of hundreds of thousands to Rafah Governorate, where more than a million and a half people now live in an area not exceeding 65 square kilometers during the aggression.

More than a
million arrests since 1967:

According to data from the Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners’ Affairs Authority, the number of prisoners languishing in the occupation’s prisons reached about 9,400, until the end of April 2024, including 3,600 administrative detainees (without charge), and 849 whom the occupation classified as (unlawful combatants), while the number of female prisoners reached 80 female prisoners, and 229 children, while the number of arrest cases since October 7, 2023 in the West Bank reached 8,520 cases (the number includes those who were kept in detention by the occupation and those who were later released). These data do not include cases of arrest in the Gaza Strip during the aggression, noting that Their number is estimated in the thousands.

About 12,000 attacks were carried out by the occupation and its colonizers last year:

The occupation and its colonialists carried out 12,161 attacks against Palestinian citizens and their property during the year 2023. These attacks were divided into 3,808 a
ttacks on property and religious places, 707 attacks on lands and natural resources, and 7,646 attacks on individuals. These attacks also caused the uprooting, damage, and bulldozing of more than 21,700 trees, including about 18,964. Olive Tree.

Source: Maan News Agency