Years of 'de-development': Israeli siege wreaks havoc on Gaza economy — UN
A UN report highlights that the Gaza economy has been "hollowed" out by an economic blockade initiated in 2007, along with intermittent military operations, leaving 80 percent of the enclave's population dependent on international aid.
"The vicious circle of destruction and partial reconstruction needs to be broken by increasing donor support for the recovery of the war-torn economy," the report concludes. / Photo: AP
Gaza has lived through 16 years of de-development, the United Nations said, adding that the economic consequences of the Israel's war on the besieged Palestinian enclave were "impossible to determine".
"Gaza has experienced 16 years of de-development and suppressed human potential and the right to development," the UN's UNCTAD trade and development agency said on Wednesday in an annual report on the Palestinian economy.
While the report focused on 2022, during a press conference UNCTAD officials could not ignore the current conflict.
Inflation, a shrinking fiscal space, a decline in foreign aid and the build-up of debt has kept the economy of the Occupied Palestinian Territory below its 2019 pre-pandemic level.
— UNCTAD, the UN trade & development body (@UNCTAD) October 25, 2023
Read the report on UNCTAD's assistance to the Palestinian people.https://t.co/WNacPVbagj
The conflict began on October 7 when the Palestinian group Hamas initiated Operation Al Aqsa Flood - a multi-pronged surprise attack that included a barrage of rocket launches and infiltrations into Israel by land, sea and air.
Hamas said the operation was in retaliation for the storming of Al Aqsa Mosque and growing violence by Jewish settlers against Palestinians.
Israeli bombing has now killed more than 5,600 people in Gaza, many of them children, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza.
"The economic consequences of the current and ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza are impossible to determine," Richard Kozul-Wright, the director of UNCTAD's globalisation and development strategies division, told a press conference.
"What the report does document is the profound economic challenges facing a community under occupation, which in the case of Gaza is compounded by an economic blockade which began in 2007, along with intermittent military operations."
The report on the state of the Palestinian economy in 2022 said the economy in the enclave had been "hollowed" out, with 80 percent of the population dependent on international aid.
"With heightened political tensions and a long-stalled peace process, 2022 was one of the worst years for Palestinians in recent history," the report said.
Palestine economy hit hard
It said the Palestinian economy had also been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic.
"Even though the Palestinian GDP grew by 3.9 percent in 2022, per capita real GDP was still 8.6 percent below its 2019 pre-pandemic level. In Gaza, real GDP per capita was 11.7 percent below the 2019 level and close to its lowest level since 1994," the report said.
Palestinian GDP per capita is "currently at just eight percent of that of Israel", the report added.
UNCTAD said that unemployment was at 45 percent in Gaza and 13 percent in the occupied West Bank, with women and young people affected the most.
"The vicious circle of destruction and partial reconstruction needs to be broken by negotiating a peaceful solution, based on international law, and relevant UN and Security Council resolutions, to end hostilities, and by increasing donor support for the recovery of the war-torn economy," the report concluded.
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