LAND DAY - 30 MARCH 2025

Every year on March 30, the Palestinian people commemorate Land Day as an expression of their collective solidarity and united resistance against the Israeli occupation’s ongoing policies and practices of stealing Palestinian land. It commemorates the Palestinian people’s deep sense of belonging and steadfast attachment to their homeland, and honours those who have lost their lives in the ongoing struggle to protect it.

On the very first Land Day, March 30th 1976, thousands of Palestinians gathered in protest against the Israeli government’s decision to confiscate 2100 hectares of Palestinian land in al-Jalil, al-Muthalath, and al-Naqab. Israeli forces responded to the demonstrations with brutality and lethal force: Six young protestors were killed, and hundreds were injured and detained. 

On the 49th annual commemoration of Land Day (March 30th 2025) H.E. Dr Ola Awad, President of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), presented the following data and statistics:

The Israeli Occupation Controls Over 85% of Historic Palestine and Continues to Seize More

The Israeli occupation currently controls more than 85% of the total land area of historic Palestine, and it continues to expand its exploitation of Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank through various pretexts and classifications.

In 2024 alone, more than 46,000 dunums of Palestinian land were confiscated by the Israeli occupation. Data indicates that during 2024:

• 35 land seizure orders were issued to confiscate approximately 1,073 dunums
• 5 expropriation orders were issued for around 803 dunums
• 9 orders were issued declaring 24,597 dunums as ‘state land’
• 6 orders modifying the boundaries of nature reserves resulted in the confiscation of about 20,000 dunums

These actions are a part of Israel’s systematic and ongoing policy to seize all Palestinian land and deprive the Palestinian people of access to their own natural resources, within the broader annexation agenda being pursued by the Israeli occupation authorities in the West Bank.

More than 50,700 Palestinians Martyred Since October 2023

Since the launch of the Israeli aggression in October 2023, in the Gaza Strip:

• Over 49,747 people have been killed, including 18,000 children and 12,300 women.
• 11,000 persons are missing under the rubble and presumed dead
• 120,000 people have been injured
• 100,000 Palestinians have left Gaza

In the West Bank, as a result of escalating attacks by Israeli occupation forces and settlers:

• 943 Palestinians have been killed
• 6,700 have been injured

More than 70% of Housing Units in Gaza Are Uninhabitable

Since the assault began in October 2023, the Israeli occupation has destroyed over 60,368 buildings in the Gaza Strip.

• 110,000 more buildings have been severely damaged.
• At least 330,000 housing units have been completely or partially destroyed, constituting over 70% of all residential units in Gaza
• Schools, universities, hospitals, mosques, churches, government buildings, and thousands of economic establishments have been destroyed
• The destruction of all aspects of critical infrastructure, including roads, water and electricity lines, sewage systems, and agricultural land, has made Gaza unlivable.

In the West Bank: Escalating Demolitions and Forced Displacement

In 2024 alone, the Israeli occupation demolished or destroyed over 903 buildings and structures across the occupied West Bank, including 242 in the Jerusalem Governorate, of which 24 were self-demolished by their owners under threat of heavy fines.

In addition, 939 demolition orders were issued against Palestinian structures under the pretext of lacking Israeli building permits.*

*Note: These permits are extremely expensive and nearly impossible for Palestinians to obtain due to Israel’s restrictive and discriminatory measures and policies, which are intended to prevent Palestinians from building or expanding existing structures on their own land.

Since the start of 2025, Israeli occupation authorities have demolished dozens of buildings in Palestinian refugee camps, forcibly displacing tens of thousands of residents, as part of a systematic policy to displace the Palestinian population.

Gaza's Population Declined by 6% by End of 2024

Since October 2023, the Israeli occupation has waged a relentless and brutal assault against the Gaza Strip – an assault that has targeted every aspect of life there; people, buildings, and all essential infrastructure. Cities have been reduced to rubble. The bombardment has branded its devastation onto homes, walls, memories, and the very pages of history. Entire neighbourhoods have disappeared from existence. Entire families have been erased from the civil registry – their names no longer listed; their lineage extinguished. The human and material losses are beyond catastrophic.

And while Israel’s brutal and devastating assault continues across all areas of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank also suffers - with constant Israeli arrests, raids, closures, and severe restrictions on movement that suffocate freedom and every aspect of daily life for Palestinians.

By the end of 2024, the overall population of the State of Palestine was 5.5 million:

• 3.4 million in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem

• 2.1 million in the Gaza Strip – a 6% drop from 2023. Gaza lost 160,000 people

By the end of 2024, there were a total of 14.9 million Palestinians worldwide:

• 7.6 million outside of historic Palestine (diaspora)
• 5.5 million in the State of Palestine
• 1.8 million in the 1948 territories (present-day Israel)

Gaza Strip: More than 85% of water and sanitation facilities and assets have been completely or partially out of service

After nearly 15 months of continuous Israeli aggression, preliminary damage assessments up to the ceasefire date reveal that over 85% of water and sanitation infrastructure in the Gaza Strip is either completely or partially non-functional.

Rehabilitation needs exceed $1.5 billion only for the areas assessed so far, which includes:

• Wastewater treatment plants
• Desalination plants
• Pumping stations
• Wells
• Water tanks
• Main transmission lines
• Water and sewage networks
• Stormwater drainage systems
• Water quality labs, and more

Due to the extensive damage incurred by the water and sanitation infrastructure in Gaza, the average daily water supply per person has dropped to 3–5 liters, varying slightly based on location and infrastructure damage. This falls well below the World Health Organization’s minimum emergency standard of 15 liters per person per day.

Israeli Settlements: Continuous Expansion

By the end of 2024, there were 551 Israeli colonial sites and military bases in the occupied West Bank, consisting of:

• 151 settlements

• 256 settlement outposts, including 29 inhabited outposts reclassified as neighborhoods of established settlements

• 144 other Israeli-controlled sites, designated as industrial zones, tourist areas, service facilities, and military camps

The year 2024 saw a significant surge in settlement construction and expansion. The Israeli occupation approved numerous colonial master plans to build more than 13,000 new settlement units across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, by seizing approximately 11,888 dunums of Palestinian land.

As of the end of 2023, there were 770,420 Israeli settlers living in the occupied West Bank. 

The highest concentration of settlers (about 43.7% of the total settler population) is in the Jerusalem Governorate, where the number has reached 336,304 settlers. This includes 240,516 settlers living in East Jerusalem – the section of the Holy City that Israel occupied and illegally annexed in 1967.

Other major concentrations include:

• 154,224 settlers in Ramallah and Al-Bireh Governorate
• 107,068 settlers in Bethlehem Governorate
• 56,777 settlers in Salfit Governorate

Tubas and the Northern Valley Governorate has the lowest number of settlers, with numbers reaching 3,004 settlers.

The proportion of settlers to Palestinians in the West Bank stands at approximately 23.4 settlers per 100 Palestinians. The highest proportion is in Jerusalem, where there about 67.6 settlers per 100 Palestinians.

Sources:

1. Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics 2024: Israeli settlements in the West Bank 2023. Ramallah - Palestine.
2. Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission 2025, the most prominent violations of the Israeli occupation State and colonizers in the occupied Palestinian territories, annual report, 2024. Ramallah - Palestine.
3. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Territories (OCHA), 2024.
4. Palestinian Ministry of Health - General Directorate of Emergency, 2025. Annual report on Israeli occupation attacks, 2024. Ramallah - Palestine.