Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS): 740 Thousand Palestinians reside in the North of Gaza Strip

Since October 7^th, 2023, Gaza Strip has been suffering from brutal aggression and systematic genocide, resulting in successive waves of forced and coerced displacement. North Gaza has been the most severely affected areas, experiencing large-scale displacement and destruction at a very rapid pace due to the direct targeting of residential areas and infrastructure, including the complete erasure of entire neighborhoods and towns such as Beit Hanun, Jabalya, Al-Zaytoun, Al-Shuja’iyya, and others, as well as the continuous attacks on refugee tents and residential towers that were sheltering thousands of displaced people, alongside the crippling seige, the denial of basic humanitarian needs, and systematic starvation. More than three thousand Gazans were martyred while they were attempting to access aid through these deadly traps.

Prior to October 7^th, 2023, the northern governorates included approximately 749 thousand residents in Gaza City, and 444 thousand in Beit Hanun and Beit Lahiya. Following January 2025, with the partial return of some displaced households and the temporary ceasefire, estimates indicated that over one million residents/displaced people were living in densely populated tent areas and what remained of habitable buildings in northern Gaza.

Aerial imagery between September 4^th and 15^th, 2025, showed that thousands of tents established on empty lots among the ruins of Gaza City, along the coast, and in less urbanized areas of the north, had either disappeared or dramatically decreased in number. Large tent camps in Sheikh Radwan, Ash-Shati’, and Rimal-neighborhoods had almost entirely vanished, highlighting the scale of the humanitarian catastrophe and exacerbating the displacement crisis[1].

Despite attempts by some households to return to their original homes, the intensity of attacks and ongoing threats of incursions continue to force residents to flee again, leaving population stability in the area extremely fragile and constantly changing.

According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the estimated number of residents in the North of Gaza Strip as of September 16^th, 2025, stands at around 740 thousand individuals out of a total of 2.1 million individuals in Gaza Strip, representing 35% of the population. This figure remains subject to further decline due to the ongoing assaults and the systematic push for forced displacement.

This number reflects the tragic demographic transformations within Gaza Strip, as the North of Gaza—once one of its main population centers—has become an epicenter of recurring displacement under conditions of insecurity and the collapse of basic services.

These estimates were prepared based on actual data collected before and during the aggression, supported by complementary data sources within the National Statistical System, with a particular reliance on data from Palestinian mobile telecommunications companies, while taking into account the high level of instability characterizing population displacement.