Gaza – Ma’an – Unemployment rates in the Gaza Strip have jumped to nearly 80 percent since the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas, with the devastated territory’s economy facing a near-total collapse, according to a recent report by the United Nations’ International Labor Organization.
The organization added, on Thursday, that the economic output in the sector has shrunk by 85 percent since the war began more than a year ago, pushing almost all of its 2.3 million residents into poverty.
The organization said that the conflict caused “widespread and unprecedented destruction to the labor market and the economy in general” in the Palestinian sector.
In the West Bank, the organization said the unemployment rate reached 34.9 percent between October 2023 and the end of September 2024, and the economy there shrank by 21.7 percent compared to the previous year.
The organization indicated that the unemployment rate in the Gaza Strip before the war was 45.3 percent, and in the West Bank it was 14 percent.
She said that the workforce in the Gaza Strip either lost jobs completely or turned to informal and irregular work “focused mainly on providing essential goods and services.”
Israel launched a military campaign on the Gaza Strip after a Hamas attack on October 7 last year. Israel says the attack killed 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages.
Health authorities in the Gaza Strip say the Israeli military campaign has so far killed more than 42,000 people.
UN satellite data indicates that two-thirds of the buildings and facilities in the Gaza Strip that existed before the war were destroyed or razed to the ground, or more than 163,000 buildings.
Israel says the aim of its operations is to eliminate Hamas fighters hiding in tunnels and among civilians.
The crisis and its repercussions extended to the West Bank, as the International Labor Organization indicated that Israeli barriers and restrictions imposed on the movement of individuals and goods, on cross-border trade, and on the obstacles facing distribu
tion through supply chains have severely negatively affected the economy there.
Israel says its actions in the West Bank are necessary to combat Iranian-backed militant groups and prevent harm to Israeli civilians.
‘The impact of the war on the Gaza Strip goes beyond the loss of life, the deteriorating humanitarian conditions and the physical destruction,’ said Ruba Jaradat, ILO Regional Director for Arab States.
“It radically changed the socio-economic landscape of Gaza and also severely affected the West Bank economy and labor market. This impact will extend for generations to come,” she continued.
Source: Maan News Agency