More than half a million Israelis left the country and did not return during the first six months of Israel’s Gaza war, reported the Times of Israel on Sunday, citing the Population and Immigration Authority.
According to the authority’s data, approximately 550,000 Israelis left the country since October last year, surpassing the number who returned by Easter in April.
The news website noted that what initially seemed to be a temporary escape during the war or due to technical difficulties in returning has now evolved into a permanent trend or migration.
Data from the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics indicates that in April, Israel’s population was 9.9 million, including over 2 million Palestinians, 400,000 Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem, and 20,000 Syrians in the occupied Golan Heights.
Millions of Israelis hold dual citizenship, possessing at least one other nationality alongside their Israeli citizenship.
Israel’s Gaza War
Israel, defying a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, has faced international condemnation for its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack last year by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.
More than 37,500 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in Gaza, and nearly 86,000 others injured, according to local health authorities.
More than eight months into the war, vast areas of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which recently ordered it to immediately halt its operations in the southern city of Rafah, where over 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.
