Palestinian officials estimate that the population of the Gaza Strip has decreased by six percent over the past 15 months due to the genocide in Gaza. This decline is attributed to more than 200,000 people either being displaced, killed, or injured by the occupation forces.

According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the population of Gaza is now estimated at 2.1 million, down by at least 160,000 from the population before October 7, 2023. Additionally, the number of martyrs is estimated at more than 45,000 people, including 17,500 children. 

Moreover, 11,000 Palestinians were missing and presumed dead, while at least 100,000 people had been displaced from the besieged area. Another 107,000 Palestinians have been injured in Israeli attacks, according to Gaza officials.

The population decline, which averaged nearly a full percentage point every 10 weeks, is a horrific display of "Israel’s" genocidal brutality – which has also included the destruction of Gaza’s infrastructure, economy, and prospects.

Experts argue that these estimates are likely conservative, as officials often fail to account for all casualties resulting from attacks. They primarily rely on death tolls from strikes reported by hospitals, while other deaths, such as those caused by starvation and disease, are largely excluded from the count.

Martyrs, wounded in Israeli aggression on Gaza City, central 

Eighteen Palestinians have been killed in a series of Israeli raids on Gaza City and the central Gaza Strip since dawn today.

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Al Mayadeen's correspondent reported that nine martyrs, including a journalist, were killed, and several injuries were recorded following the occupation's bombing of three houses in the central Gaza Strip in under two hours. One of the targeted homes belonged to the al-Diraoui family in al-Zawaida, central Gaza Strip.

Our correspondent confirmed the martyrdom of four people, along with several others wounded, following an Israeli bombardment that targeted a house in the city of Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip.

One martyr was killed, and several injuries were recorded in the bombing of a residential apartment at the Abd al-Aal intersection on al-Jalaa Street in Gaza City, located north of the Strip. The Israeli attacks were accompanied by shelling from the occupation's warships targeting the coast of Gaza City.

Number of journalist martyrs rises to 202

On Friday, the Government Media Office in Gaza said that the number of martyred journalists has risen to 202 after the martyrdom of journalist Omar al-Diraoui.

In a statement, the Government Media Office strongly condemned the targeting and killing of Palestinian journalists by the Israeli occupation. It called on the International Federation of Journalists, the Federation of Arab Journalists, and all journalistic organizations worldwide to denounce these systematic crimes against Palestinian journalists and media professionals in the Gaza Strip.

It also held the Israeli occupation, the US administration, and countries complicit in the genocide, such as Britain, Germany, and France, fully responsible for perpetrating this heinous and brutal crime.

Read next: 2024 deadliest year for journalists: 104 killed, over half in Gaza

The office called on the international community, international organizations, and bodies related to journalism and media work worldwide to condemn the occupation's crimes, take action to deter it, and prosecute those responsible in international courts, holding the occupation's criminals accountable for their ongoing crimes.

It also called on them to exert serious and effective pressure to halt the genocide, protect journalists and media professionals in Palestine, especially in the Gaza Strip, and put an end to the crime of targeting and killing them.