02/11/2024 – 9:40
The war between Israel and Hamas has “devastated” the Palestinian economy in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip, declared this Sunday (11) the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, noting that only a “lasting peace” would improve the perspectives.
“The disastrous prospects for the Palestinian economy worsen as the conflict continues,” Kristalina Georgieva said at a summit in Dubai.
“Only a lasting peace and a political solution will fundamentally change the situation”, he estimated.
“At an economic level, the impact of the conflict was devastating,” Georgieva added.
Despite international efforts to reach a ceasefire, the war between Israel and Hamas, triggered on October 7 with the Palestinian Islamist group's unprecedented attack on Israeli soil, continues to intensify.
In the Gaza Strip, devastated by Israeli military operations launched in response to the attack, economic activity plummeted by 80% between October and December 2023, compared to the same period the previous year, according to the head of the financial organization.
In the West Bank, territory occupied by Israel since 1967, the drop was 22%, she said at the opening of the summit, which every year brings together prominent business and political figures from the United Arab Emirates.
In addition to the Palestinian Territories, the war also had an impact on the tourism sector in neighboring countries, such as Egypt and Lebanon.
Attacks by Huthi rebels along the Yemeni coast against commercial ships, actions they claim in “solidarity” with the Gaza Palestinians, have led to “an increase in freight costs and a reduction in the volume of transit in the Red Sea of almost 50% this year”, added Georgieva, in her speech published on the IMF website.
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