A year of war in Gaza caused the Palestinian territory’s GDP to fall by 84.7%, while unemployment rose to 79.7%. says a report from the International Labor Organization (ILO).
In the West Bank, unemployment between October 2023 and the end of September 2024 reached rates of 34.9%while GDP fell by 21.7%, according to the fifth report on the economic impact of the Gaza war on the Palestinians prepared by the ILO.
On average in the two territories, unemployment in Gaza and the West Bank stands at 51.1%, while GDP decreased by 32.2% in one year, according to a study prepared by the ILO in collaboration with the Palestine Central Statistical Office.
The unemployment rate is increasing
The figures are similar to those in the previous ILO report from June, although they show a six-tenths increase 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, or even in the severe economic crisis that occurred during the revolt against the Israeli occupation of 2001 (the so-called second Intifada). GDP fell by 14.9%, less than half of what it is today, according to ILO officials.
“The impact of the war in Gaza has not only caused loss of life, dire humanitarian conditions and destruction. It also disrupted the band’s economy and society, and has also seriously affected economic and labor markets in the West Bank,” » declares the ILO regional director for Arab countries, Ruba Jaradat.
Nearly 100% of the population lives in poverty
According to the Geneva-based organization, virtually 100% of Gaza’s population currently lives in poverty, while in the West Bank the percentage of people in this situation increased from 12% to 28%.
The ILO denounces the fact that in the West Bank, the economy has been affected by Israeli barriers to the movement of people and goods, as well as by a increased trade restrictions, supply chain cuts and the closing of the Israeli labor market to Palestinian workers.
