Israeli war pushes Palestine unemployment rate, paralyses labour market: UN

The Israeli war on Gaza is seen pushing the rate of Palestinian unemployment in the occupied West Bank and Gaza to above 50 percent, the International Labour Organization has said.

Already more than half a million jobs have been lost since Oct. 7 2023, when Israel began a deadly military campaign in Gaza after Palestinian resistance groups launched a cross-border incursion, the new report showed on Monday.

If the conflict continues until end-March then the unemployment rate will soar to 57 percent, it said.

ILO Regional Director for Arab States Ruba Jaradat said that the destruction of infrastructure and schools, hospitals and businesses in Gaza had "decimated entire economic sectors and paralysed labour market activity, with untold repercussions on the lives and livelihoods of Palestinians for generations to come."

In Gaza, some 200,000 jobs have been lost, accounting for about two-thirds of total employment in the enclave.

In the occupied West Bank, the report described "near lockdown" conditions with more than 650 permanent and temporary checkpoints across the territory having significant negative effects on the economy.



More than 300,000 jobs, or about a third of total employment, have already been lost there, it said.