On Thursday, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics reported that more than six million Palestinian refugees are registered with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
In a statement released to mark World Refugee Day, which the United Nations established in 2000, the bureau highlighted that nearly 2.5 million refugees reside in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The statement detailed that about 40 percent of the registered Palestinian refugees are in Jordan, while 8 percent and 10 percent are in Lebanon and Syria, respectively.
These figures represent the minimum estimates, as there are unregistered refugees and those displaced after 1949 and up to the eve of the June 1967 war who are not counted by UNRWA’s definition.
Additionally, this count excludes Palestinians displaced during the 1967 war who were not originally refugees.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced to flee or abandon their homes in 1948, becoming refugees within their homeland and in other countries.
According to the bureau, over 136,000 Palestinians have been killed both within the Palestinian territories and abroad since 1948.
More than 37,500 have died in the recent Israeli campaign on Gaza since October 7, including over 15,162 children.
The statement also noted that around 2 million people have been displaced within the Gaza Strip, moving away from their homes due to ongoing conflict.
Unemployment among Palestinians has surged to unprecedented levels, with the statement citing a leap to 75 percent in the fourth quarter of 2023 from 46 percent in the third quarter of the same year.