UNITED NATIONS: The socioeconomic “shock” of the Israel-Hamas war will force hundreds of thousands of Palestinians into poverty, a UN report on the conflict’s possible long-term impacts on Gaza and the West Bank warned Thursday.
After a month of intense Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, the poverty rate in the Palestinian territories is expected to soar from 26.7 percent to 31.9 percent, according to estimates from the UN Development Program (UNDP).
That represents about 285,000 people added to the impoverished pre-war population of almost 1.5 million.
The poverty rate could reach 35.8 percent if the conflict lasts another month, according to the report, and rise further to 38.8 percent if it lasts two months.
The war triggered by the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants — which killed about 1,400 people according to Israeli officials — has generated a severe “shock to Palestinian economic activity,” the UNDP report says.
Projected GDP growth in the Palestinian territories could fall 4.2 to 12.2 percent from pre-war estimates, depending on how long the fighting lasts — or losses of between $857 million and $2.5 billion.
Unemployment is also expected to increase between five and 13 percentage points, from a pre-war level of 24.7 percent, the world body said. An estimated 182,000 jobs have already been lost in the Gaza Strip, and an additional 208,000 jobs have been eliminated in the West Bank, due to restricted movement of goods and the inability of Palestinians to cross into Israel to work.
“We have to recognize that the consequence of what is happening right now is literally a development crisis for years to come,” UNDP administrator Achim Steiner told AFP.
In the Gaza Strip, at least 45 percent of homes have been destroyed or damaged, but businesses and agricultural lands have also been hit.
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