Gaza war losses reach staggering numbers
Israel’s war against Hamas has destroyed the economy. Gaza And it reduced it to less than a sixth of its level in 2022, due to a “worrying decline” in the West Bank.
In Gaza, “production has been halted or destroyed, sources of income have been lost, poverty has deepened and spread, entire neighbourhoods have been razed to the ground, and communities and cities have been destroyed,” a report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development published Thursday said.
The military operation caused “unprecedented humanitarian, environmental and social crises and transformed the region from backwardness to total destruction.”
“We will not know the extent of the destruction until it stops,” said Mutasem Al-Aqraa, the UNCTAD’s coordinator and aid official for the Palestinian people, who co-authored the report, at a press conference. “But the data we have now is that it is estimated at tens of billions and perhaps more.”
He added that “reaching the pre-October 2023 level requires decades,” considering that the international community must help achieve “sustainable development” in Gaza.
The war broke out after Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, which was followed by an intensive and ongoing military operation since October 2023.
Hamas’ attack resulted in Israel To the killing of 1,205 people, most of them civilians, according to a count by Agence France-Presse based on official Israeli figures, which includes hostages killed in captivity.
The Israeli military operation has killed more than 41,000 people in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-controlled enclave. The UN human rights office said most of the dead were women and children.
Catastrophic economic toll
In addition to the massive human toll, the economic losses are catastrophic. The report’s authors found that Gaza’s GDP “declined by 81% in the last quarter of 2023, leading to a 22% contraction for the entire year.”
The report, which based its calculations on quarterly figures issued by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, confirms that “in mid-2024, Gaza’s economy declined to less than one-sixth of its level in 2022.”
By early 2024, “between 80 and 96 percent of agricultural goods in Gaza – including irrigation networks, livestock farms, orchards, machinery and storage facilities – had been destroyed,” the report says, exacerbating “already high levels of food insecurity.”
The report added that “the destruction also hit the private sector hard, as 82% of the companies that are the main engine of the Gaza economy were damaged or destroyed.”
West Bank too
The Hamas attack and the Israeli response also exacerbated tensions in the occupied West Bank and caused an economic decline that was “as rapid as it was alarming.”
Since October 7, Israeli forces and settlers have killed at least 662 Palestinians in the West Bank, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
At least 23 Israelis, including members of the security forces, were killed in Palestinian attacks during the same period, according to Israeli officials.
Although the West Bank recorded 4% growth in the first nine months of last year, optimism was “suddenly dashed by an unprecedented 19% contraction in the last quarter” which led to “a significant decline in the standard of living and household income.”
The expansion of illegal settlements, land confiscation, destruction of Palestinian infrastructure, increased settler violence and the growing number of checkpoints have had a detrimental impact on economic activity.
Even East Jerusalem has been badly damaged. The report said that “80% of businesses in the Old City” have either partially or completely ceased operations.
Across the territory, almost all companies reported a decline in activity and 42.1% of them reported a decrease in the workforce.
The unemployment rate rose from 12.9% before the war to 32%, “severely eroding the economic capacity of Palestinian families and exacerbating social difficulties.”
In Gaza, two-thirds of the jobs that were available before the war no longer exist.
Even before the war, poverty was widespread, but today it “affects almost all of Gaza’s population and is increasing rapidly in the West Bank.”
