Israel’s war on Gaza has devastated the Palestinian enclave’s economy, decreasing it to lower than one-sixth of its 2022 measurement, whereas there has additionally been a “important downturn” within the occupied West Financial institution, in line with a United Nations report.
“Manufacturing processes have been disrupted or decimated, earnings sources have disappeared, poverty has intensified and expanded, neighbourhoods have been eradicated, and communities and cities have been ruined,” a report revealed on Thursday by the UN Commerce and Improvement company (UNCTAD) discovered.
Mutasim Elagraa, who coordinates UNCTAD’s Palestinian help programme, mentioned it remained unclear how a lot it could value to rebuild.
“However the proof we’ve now [indicates] it will likely be excessive tens of billions or possibly much more,” he instructed reporters in Geneva.
“It can take many years to convey Gaza again to the place it was in October 2023.”
Already by early 2024, UNCTAD mentioned as much as 96 p.c of Gaza’s agricultural property – together with farms, orchards, irrigation methods, equipment and storage amenities – had been “decimated”.
This had crippled meals manufacturing capability and worsened the already towering quantity of people that should not have sufficient meals to eat within the besieged Palestinian territory, it mentioned.
Eighty-two p.c of companies in Gaza had additionally been broken or destroyed.
Within the final quarter of 2023 alone, Gaza’s gross home product (GDP) plummeted 81 p.c, resulting in a 22-percent contraction for your complete yr, the report discovered.
“By mid-2024, Gaza’s financial system had shrunk to lower than one-sixth of its 2022 stage,” UNCTAD mentioned.
‘Fast and alarming financial decline’
Spiralling violence within the West Financial institution, in the meantime, has sparked a “speedy and alarming financial decline” there as effectively, the company warned, mentioning that GDP there had contracted 19 p.c within the remaining quarter of 2023.
Since October 7, Israeli troopers and settlers have killed at the least 662 Palestinians within the West Financial institution, in line with the Palestinian Ministry of Well being.
A minimum of 24 Israelis, together with members of the safety forces, have been killed in Palestinian assaults throughout the identical interval, Israeli officers mentioned.
Thursday’s report mentioned elements like settlement growth, land confiscation, demolition of Palestinian buildings and elevated settler violence had displaced West Financial institution communities and severely impacted financial actions.
About 80 p.c of companies in Jerusalem’s Old City have both partially or utterly ceased operations, UNCTAD mentioned.
Excessive unemployment
Labour market circumstances throughout the Palestinian territory have additionally worsened dramatically since October 7.
The report confirmed that 96 p.c of West Financial institution companies decreased exercise and greater than 42 p.c diminished their workforces.
In all, 306,000 jobs have been misplaced, pushing the West Financial institution’s unemployment price from practically 13 p.c earlier than Israel launched its warfare on Gaza to 32 p.c.
In Gaza, in the meantime, a full two-thirds of pre-war jobs – about 201,000 positions – had been misplaced by January, the report confirmed.
It mentioned unemployment within the besieged territory reached 79 p.c within the remaining quarter of 2023, up from 46 p.c within the earlier quarter.