Jews were the dominant religious group in the Israel-Palestine region at the beginning of the first millennia CE, and are the dominant religious group there today, however, there was a period of almost 2,000 years where most of the world's Jews were displaced from their spiritual homeland. Antiquity to the 20th century Jewish hegemony in the region began changing after a series of revolts against Roman rule led to mass expulsions and emigration. Roman control saw severe persecution of Jewish and Christian populations, but this changed when the Byzantine Empire adopted Christianity as its official religion in the 4th century. Christianity then dominated until the 7th century, when the Rashidun Caliphate (the first to succeed Muhammad) took control of the Levant. Control of region split between Christians and Muslims intermittently between the 11th and 13th centuries during the Crusades, although the population remained overwhelmingly Muslim. Zionism until today Through the Paris Peace Conference, the British took control of Palestine in 1920. The Jewish population began growing through the Zionist Movement after the 1880s, which sought to establish a Jewish state in Palestine. Rising anti-Semitism in Europe accelerated this in the interwar period, and in the aftermath of the Holocaust, many European Jews chose to leave the continent. The United Nations tried facilitating the foundation of separate Jewish and Arab states, yet neither side was willing to concede territory, leading to a civil war and a joint invasion from seven Arab states. Yet the Jews maintained control of their territory and took large parts of the proposed Arab territory, forming the Jewish-majority state of Israel in 1948, and acheiving a ceasefire the following year. Over 750,000 Palestinians were displaced as a result of this conflict, while most Jews from the Arab eventually fled to Israel. Since this time, Israel has become one of the richest and advanced countries in the world, however, Palestine has been under Israeli military occupation since the 1960s and there are large disparities in living standards between the two regions.

In 1995, Israel had a Jewish population of approximately 4.5 million people, of whom approximately 1.75 million were born abroad. Over one million of these immigrants were born in Europe, with over 650,000 of these born in the former Soviet Union. Despite Poland having the largest Jewish population in the world in the pre-WWII years, the number of Polish Jewish migrants and descendents in Israel was relatively small in 1995 when compared to the USSR due to the impact of the Holocaust.

Outside of Europe, Morocco had the largest number of Jewish immigrants and descendents in Israel by 1995. Morocco had the largest Jewish population in the Muslim world when Israel was founded in 1948, with over 250,000 people. Many Moroccan Jews sought to emigrate to Israel at this time, but often faced resistance from authorities and local populations who believed the Jews would join in the fight against the Arab forces seeking to establish a Muslim state in Palestine. The government of Morocco then officially prohibited emigration to Israel after gaining independence from France in 1956, however this policy was reversed in 1961 whereby the Moroccan government began facilitating Jewish emigration to Israel in return for payments from Jewish organizations in the U.S. and Israel. By the 1970s, Morocco's Jewish population had fallen to less than 15 percent of its size in 1948.

The total population in Palestine was forecast to continuously increase up to more than 5.4 million people by 2023. The current total population is estimated to amount to 5.48 million people in 2023, however these estimates have not yet been adjusted to account for the impact of the 2023 Israel-Hamas War.

Israel IL: Refugee Population: by Country or Territory of Origin data was reported at 459.000 Person in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 495.000 Person for 2016. Israel IL: Refugee Population: by Country or Territory of Origin data is updated yearly, averaging 818.500 Person from Dec 1990 (Median) to 2017, with 28 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 1,541.000 Person in 2007 and a record low of 16.000 Person in 1990. Israel IL: Refugee Population: by Country or Territory of Origin data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Israel – Table IL.World Bank: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Refugees are people who are recognized as refugees under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, the 1969 Organization of African Unity Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa, people recognized as refugees in accordance with the UNHCR statute, people granted refugee-like humanitarian status, and people provided temporary protection. Asylum seekers--people who have applied for asylum or refugee status and who have not yet received a decision or who are registered as asylum seekers--are excluded. Palestinian refugees are people (and their descendants) whose residence was Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948 and who lost their homes and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict. Country of origin generally refers to the nationality or country of citizenship of a claimant.; ; United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Statistics Database, Statistical Yearbook and data files, complemented by statistics on Palestinian refugees under the mandate of the UNRWA as published on its website. Data from UNHCR are available online at: www.unhcr.org/en-us/figures-at-a-glance.html.; Sum;

Israel IL: Refugee Population: by Country or Territory of Asylum data was reported at 25,637.000 Person in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 32,946.000 Person for 2016. Israel IL: Refugee Population: by Country or Territory of Asylum data is updated yearly, averaging 6,658.000 Person from Dec 1998 (Median) to 2017, with 20 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 48,505.000 Person in 2012 and a record low of 27.000 Person in 1998. Israel IL: Refugee Population: by Country or Territory of Asylum data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Israel – Table IL.World Bank: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Refugees are people who are recognized as refugees under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, the 1969 Organization of African Unity Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa, people recognized as refugees in accordance with the UNHCR statute, people granted refugee-like humanitarian status, and people provided temporary protection. Asylum seekers--people who have applied for asylum or refugee status and who have not yet received a decision or who are registered as asylum seekers--are excluded. Palestinian refugees are people (and their descendants) whose residence was Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948 and who lost their homes and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict. Country of asylum is the country where an asylum claim was filed and granted.; ; United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Statistics Database, Statistical Yearbook and data files, complemented by statistics on Palestinian refugees under the mandate of the UNRWA as published on its website. Data from UNHCR are available online at: www.unhcr.org/en-us/figures-at-a-glance.html.; Sum;

As of January 14, 2025, the UN estimated that around 1.9 million refugees are currently sheltered in school buildings operated by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). Around ** percent of Gaza's total population has been displaced due to the ongoing conflict. This was caused by attacks of radical Islamic Hamas' attacks on Israeli territory and the consequent counterstrikes of the Israeli military. Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023 The radical Islamic Palestinian terror organization Hamas attacked Israel in the early hours of October 7, 2023, on Sabbath - the Jewish day of rest. This strategic attack from Gaza was directed towards Israeli civilians and armed forces. An estimated ***** rockets were fired by Hamas from Gaza toward Israeli targets, hitting civilian buildings and military facilities. Hamas fighters entered the Israeli territory, killing around ***** of Israeli citizens. In the weeks that followed, the Israeli military conducted an aerial bombardment and launched a ground offensive in Gaza. Humanitarian pauses allowed aid to get into Gaza, but fighting has continued since a weeklong cease-fire ended on December 1, 2023. The attacks resulted in a massive escalation of the Middle Eastern conflict, which pushed a political solution further away. The number of civilian casualties in Gaza and Israel is rising each day the conflict continues. Humanitarian situation in Gaza Following Hamas' attacks on Israel, the Israeli military responded with airstrikes against positions of Hamas in the Gaza Strip and cut the region's supply. The Israeli military warned parts of Gaza about their air strikes and urged the population to leave their houses and seek refuge in the centers. Israel isolated the Gaza Strip from the outside world and stopped the supply of electricity, food, and fuel. On October 13, 2023, Israel prompted the Palestinian population of Gaza to vacate the region of northern Gaza. Around one million of the **** million Gazans dwelled in northern Gaza in high density. About half of the Gazan population is underaged. Since the terrorist organization Hamas launched its attacks on Israeli soil on October 7, 2023, around ***** Israelis have died, and ***** have been injured. Through retaliation attacks by the Israeli armed forces against Hamas in Gaza, over 47 thousand Palestinians have died, and around 99 thousand have been injured. There were ***** confirmed Palestinians killed in the Westbank through the ongoing conflict. Hamas's attack on Israel was the deadliest so far.

The world's Jewish population has had a complex and tumultuous history over the past millennia, regularly dealing with persecution, pogroms, and even genocide. The legacy of expulsion and persecution of Jews, including bans on land ownership, meant that Jewish communities disproportionately lived in urban areas, working as artisans or traders, and often lived in their own settlements separate to the rest of the urban population. This separation contributed to the impression that events such as pandemics, famines, or economic shocks did not affect Jews as much as other populations, and such factors came to form the basis of the mistrust and stereotypes of wealth (characterized as greed) that have made up anti-Semitic rhetoric for centuries. Development since the Middle Ages The concentration of Jewish populations across the world has shifted across different centuries. In the Middle Ages, the largest Jewish populations were found in Palestine and the wider Levant region, with other sizeable populations in present-day France, Italy, and Spain. Later, however, the Jewish disapora became increasingly concentrated in Eastern Europe after waves of pogroms in the west saw Jewish communities move eastward. Poland in particular was often considered a refuge for Jews from the late-Middle Ages until the 18th century, when it was then partitioned between Austria, Prussia, and Russia, and persecution increased. Push factors such as major pogroms in the Russian Empire in the 19th century and growing oppression in the west during the interwar period then saw many Jews migrate to the United States in search of opportunity.

The estimated population of the Gaza Strip for 2023 was around 2.1 million people. The Palestinian population of Gaza is relatively young when compared globally. More than half of Gazans are 19 years or younger. This is due to the comparably high fertility rate in the Gaza Strip of *** children per woman as of 2022.

The number of fatalities amongst the Palestinian population in the West Bank and Gaza between 2008 and September 2023 stood at 6,407 and the number of injured people was 152,560. While the majority of fatalities amongst the Palestinians was in the Gaza Strip, more than half of the injured were based in the West Bank.

Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023

The radical Islamic Palestinian terror organization Hamas attacked Israel in the early hours of October 7, 2023, on Sabbath - the Jewish day of rest. This strategic attack from Gaza was directed towards Israeli civilians and armed forces. An estimated 2,200 rockets were fired by Hamas from Gaza toward Israeli targets, hitting civilian buildings and military facilities. Hamas fighters entered the Israeli territory, killing around 1,200 of Israeli citizens. In the weeks that followed, the Israeli military conducted an aerial bombardment and launched a ground offensive in Gaza. Humanitarian pauses allowed aid to get into Gaza, but fighting has continued since a weeklong cease-fire ended on December 1, 2023.

The attacks resulted in a massive escalation of the Middle Eastern conflict, which pushed a political solution further away. The number of civilian casualties in Gaza and Israel is rising each day the conflict continues.

Before October 2023, there had been four wars between Israel and Hamas. The current conflict is already the deadliest, and the death toll is certain to rise.

Since the terrorist organization Hamas launched its attacks on Israeli soil on October 7, 2023, around 1,200 Israelis died, and 5,431 were injured. Through retaliation attacks by the Israeli armed forces against Hamas in Gaza, 56,156 Palestinians were killed, and 132.239 were injured. As of January 2025, the number of Palestinian deaths in the West Bank was 924, due to the on going conflict. Information on the data situation Data on the number of fatalities and injuries are based on the UNOCHA (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) reporting by both parties to the conflict. The respective data sources were named for the purpose of transparency. It must be stated that in the case of wars and other conflicts, objective data collection is almost impossible, and reports are based on estimates. At the same time, it needs to be noted that some parties to the conflict may use numbers and data selectively for their own agenda. Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7th, 2023 Before October 2023, there had been four wars between Israel and Hamas. The current conflict is already the deadliest, and the death toll is certain to rise. The new escalation of violence in the Middle East started after the militant Palestinian group Hamas attacked Israel in the early hours of October 7, 2023. An estimated 2,200 rockets were fired by Hamas from Gaza toward Israeli targets, hitting civilian buildings and military facilities. Hamas fighters entered the Israeli territory, killing around 1,200 of Israeli citizens. In the weeks that followed, the Israeli military conducted an aerial bombardment and launched a ground offensive in Gaza. Humanitarian pauses allowed aid to get into Gaza, but fighting has continued since a weeklong cease-fire ended on December 1, 2023. Operation Iron Swords and the humanitarian situation of Gaza Initially, Israel reacted to the Hamas attacks with further isolation of the Gaza Strip, cutting off the supply of electricity, fuel, and drinking water. As of November 6, 2023, water supply to parts of the Gaza Strip has been resumed. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) summoned the Palestinians to evacuate the northern part of the Gaza Strip towards the south of Gaza in the direction of the Egyptian border. This affects around 1.93 million people out of the 2.06 million inhabitants of Gaza. According to the UN, over one million people are internally displaced inside the Gaza Strip. Some trucks with relief supplies could infrequently enter the territory via the Rafah border from Egypt. This Israeli military operation is one of the longest-lasting in Gaza, and over 6,000 bombs were already dropped by the IDF.

The footnotes in the table are represented in brackets. The first footnote does not appear in the table.Footnotes: 1 For the 2011 National Household Survey (NHS) estimates, the global non-response rate (GNR) is used as an indicator of data quality. This indicator combines complete non-response (household) and partial non-response (question) into a single rate. The value of the GNR is presented to users. A smaller GNR indicates a lower risk of non-response bias and as a result, lower risk of inaccuracy. The threshold used for estimates' suppression is a GNR of 50% or more. For more information, please refer to the National Household Survey User Guide, 2011.2 Includes persons who are stateless.3 Includes persons who are stateless.4 The official name of Bolivia is Plurinational State of Bolivia.5 The official name of Venezuela is Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.6 Includes countries such as Bonaire, Saint Eustatius and Saba; Falkland Islands (Malvinas); Greenland; Saint Barthélemy; Saint Martin (French part); and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.7 The official name of Moldova is Republic of Moldova.8 The official name of United Kingdom is United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. United Kingdom includes Scotland, Wales, England and Northern Ireland (excludes Isle of Man, the Channel Islands and British Overseas Territories).9 The official name of Kosovo is Republic of Kosovo.10 Known as Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in the United Nations and other international bodies.11 Includes countries such as Åland Islands; Andorra; Holy See (Vatican City State); Liechtenstein; San Marino; and Svalbard and Jan Mayen Island.12 The official name of Tanzania is United Republic of Tanzania.13 The official name of Libya is Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.14 Includes countries such as Mayotte; Saint Helena; Sao Tome and Principe; and Western Sahara.15 The official name of Iran is Islamic Republic of Iran.16 The official name of Syria is Syrian Arab Republic.17 West Bank and Gaza Strip are the territories referred to in the Declaration of Principles, signed by Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1993. Palestine refers to pre-1948 British mandate Palestine.18 China excludes Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Macao Special Administrative Region.19 The official name of North Korea is Democratic People's Republic of Korea.20 The official name of South Korea is Republic of Korea.21 The official name of Laos is Lao People's Democratic Republic.22 The official name of Viet Nam is Socialist Republic of Viet Nam.23 Includes countries such as British Indian Ocean Territory; Maldives; and Timor-Leste.24 Includes countries such as American Samoa; Christmas Island; Cocos (Keeling) Islands; Cook Islands; Guam; Kiribati; Marshall Islands; Micronesia, Federated States of; Nauru; Niue; Norfolk Island; Northern Mariana Islands; Palau; Pitcairn; Solomon Islands; Tokelau; Tuvalu; United States Minor Outlying Islands; Vanuatu; and Wallis and Futuna.

Ce graphique montre le nombre d'habitants dans les territoires palestiniens que sont la bande de Gaza et la Cisjordanie et en Israël en 2023. Alors qu'on dénombrait environ neuf millions d'habitants en Israël, la Cisjordanie en comptait 3,2 millions et la bande de Gaza 2,1 millions.

La population de la bande de Gaza est si jeune que 65% des habitants ont moins de 25 ans.

Ce graphique montre le nombre de morts et de blessés liés à l'attaque du Hamas contre Israël et aux contre-attaques d'Israël dans la bande de Gaza et en Cisjordanie, depuis le 7 octobre 2023. La bande de Gaza est le territoire dénombrant le plus grand nombre de décès et de personnes blessées, avec plus de 54.000 morts et plus de 125.000 blessés. La population totale de la bande de Gaza équivaut environ à 2,1 millions d'habitants. Les données sont tirées du dernier rapport de l'Office de Coordination des Affaires Humanitaires des Nations Unies, se basant sur les données communiquées par les autorités israéliennes, le Ministère de la Santé de la bande de Gaza et le Croissant Rouge pour la Cisjordanie. Depuis le 10 novembre 2023, en raison de l'effondrement des communications dans les hôpitaux, aucune mise à jour du nombre de morts et de blessés n'a été transmise par le ministère palestinien de la Santé à Gaza. Depuis le 22 novembre 2023, les chiffres pour la bande de Gaza se réfèrent donc à des données fournies par le Gaza Media Office. L'ensemble des données de ce graphique sont des estimations et assujetties à vérification pour les deux parties.

The Bahá’í faith is one of the world's youngest major religions, having been founded in 19th century Persia (now Iran) by the prophet Bahá’u’lláh. Bahá’u’lláh had been a follower of a merchant called the Báb, who had developed a substantial following in Persia after claiming to be a manifestation of god. This small but growing religion was brutally suppressed by the Shia Muslim authorities in Persia, with the Báb himself being executed in 1850. Following this, Bahá’u’lláh fled into exile in Baghdad, in present-day Iraq, where he began to preach that he was the next in the line of God's messengers after the Báb. Both of the prophets claimed the lineage of all Abrahamic religions, combining beliefs from Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. Bahá’u’lláh was eventually forced to settle in the coastal city of ‘Akká, Palestine (now Acre, Israel) where he died in 1892. The site of his death became the central place of pilgrimage in the Bahá’í faith, and is why the center of the religion is today in the nearby city of Haifa. Beliefs of the Bahá’í The Bahá’í are perhaps unique for a major religion, as rather than emphasizing the correctness of their own beliefs over other religions, followers of Bahá’í believe that there is truth in all world religions and that there should be peace and harmony among the different faiths. Bahá’ís recognize the prophets and messengers of the different world religions as all part of the same process of revelation by God to humanity. While they believe in plurality among those who bring God's message, the Bahá’í are monotheistic and believe in only one god, rather than multiple. Bahá’u’lláh taught that the different religions developed to convey the same message of God, but in different societies and time periods, meaning that the message has been delivered in different ways to suit the needs of the time and place. The key teachings of the Bahá’í faith include the unity of science and religion, equality between different peoples and religions, the importance of education and tolerance, and the unity of world religions due to the oneness of God. Today it is estimated that over five million people follow the teachings of the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh worldwide.