A year of war in Gaza has caused the GDP of that Palestinian territory to plummet by 84.7%, while unemployment has skyrocketed to 79.7%. indicates a report from the International Labor Organization (ILO).
In the West Bank, unemployment between October 2023 and the end of September 2024 rose to rates of 34.9%while the GDP has fallen by 21.7%, according to the fifth report on the economic impact of the Gaza war on the Palestinians prepared by the ILO.
As an average of the two territories, unemployment in Gaza and the West Bank stands at 51.1%, while the GDP has decreased by 32.2% in one year, according to a study prepared by the ILO in collaboration with the Central Office of Palestine Statistics.
Unemployment rate increases
The figures are similar to those of the previous ILO report from June, although they show an increase of six tenths in the unemployment rate in Gaza and 2.9 points in the West Bank.
These data show an “unprecedented” contraction in the history of the Occupied Palestinian Territories, where even in the serious economic crisis during the revolt against the Israeli occupation of 2001 (the so-called Second Intifada) GDP fell 14.9%, less than half of what it is now, according to those responsible for the ILO.
“The impact of the Gaza war has not only caused loss of life, dire humanitarian conditions and destruction. It has disrupted the economy and society of the Strip, and has also seriously affected the economic and labor markets in the West Bank,” says the ILO regional director for Arab countries, Ruba Jaradat.
Almost 100% of the population lives in poverty
According to the Geneva-based organization, practically 100% of the Gazan population currently lives in poverty, while in the West Bank the percentage of people in this situation has increased from 12% to 28%.
The ILO denounces that in the West Bank the economy has been impacted by Israeli barriers to the movement of people and goods, together with a increased trade restrictions, supply chain cuts and the closure of Israel’s labor market to Palestinian workers.
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