15.5M Palestinians Worldwide as Nakba Turns 78 Amid Gaza War

(MENAFN) The global Palestinian population has reached 15.5 million, with displacement accelerating at an unprecedented scale as Israel's war on Gaza stretches past two years, according to official statistics released Tuesday to mark one of the most consequential dates in Palestinian history.

The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) released the figures on the 78th anniversary of the Nakba — the term used by Palestinians to mark Israel's creation in 1948 — painting a sweeping portrait of a people scattered across borders, refugee camps, tents, and rubble.

Of the 15.5 million Palestinians counted worldwide, approximately 7.4 million reside in historic Palestine, while some 8.1 million live in the diaspora, the PCBS said. Within historic Palestine itself, more than two million Palestinians have been uprooted — displaced inside Gaza and the occupied West Bank as a direct consequence of Israel's military campaign and relentless settlement expansion.

The destruction in Gaza has been near-total in its reach. Of the roughly 2.2 million Palestinians who lived in the enclave before the war began, nearly two million have been displaced — many now sheltering in tents, makeshift structures, and schools. The Israeli army has killed more than 72,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured over 172,000 others in the two-year offensive launched in October 2023. More than 102,000 buildings have been completely destroyed, with full or partial damage recorded across more than 330,000 housing units, alongside widespread devastation of infrastructure, health facilities, and schools.

In the West Bank, the picture is equally dire. Around 40,000 Palestinians have been driven from refugee camps in the northern West Bank due to ongoing Israeli military operations, the PCBS added. Illegal Israeli settlement activity shows no sign of abating — the number of illegal settlements and military bases reached 645 by the end of 2025, comprising 151 illegal settlements, 350 settlement outposts, and 144 other sites. The number of Israeli occupiers in the West Bank stood at approximately 778,567 by the end of 2024, with 42.8% concentrated in occupied East Jerusalem.

Land seizures have intensified alongside the military pressure. Israeli authorities confiscated more than 5,571 dunams (1,377 acres) of Palestinian land in 2025 alone through seizure orders, expropriation, and declarations of so-called "state land." Between 2022 and 2025, the bureau documented more than 61,000 attacks by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank, resulting in the uprooting and bulldozing of more than 81,000 trees — the majority of them olive trees, long a symbol of Palestinian roots and livelihood.

Freedom of movement across the West Bank remains severely constrained. Israeli authorities maintain roughly 900 military checkpoints and gates throughout the territory, effectively limiting residents' access to large swaths of agricultural and grazing land, the PCBS said.

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