According to a UNDP assessment, poverty will reach 74 percent in 2024, affecting 4.1 million people in the Palestinian territory.
Israel’s war on Gaza has set back development indicators such as health and education by almost 70 years, according to a new United Nations report, and millions more Palestinians are falling below the poverty line.
In a report released Tuesday, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) said the overall Palestinian economy is now 35 percent smaller than it was a year ago, at the start of the Israeli offensive in Gaza. with unemployment “potentially rising” to around 49.9 percent.
UNDP research showed that the Human Development Index (HDI) for Gaza, a measure of “average achievement in key dimensions of human development”, is expected to fall to a level estimated for 1955, “wiping out more than 69 years of progress “.
In the occupied West Bank, the HDI is expected to fall to a level “reflecting a 16-year loss,” the report said, warning that it “could get even worse” if Israeli military attacks expand.
The poverty rate in the enclave will almost double this year to 74.3 percent, according to the statement. A total of 4.1 million people are now considered poor across the Palestinian territory, including the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank, with 2.61 million more in the last year alone, according to the report.
“The State of Palestine is experiencing unprecedented setbacks,” said Chitose Noguchi, a UNDP representative from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.
UNDP chief Achim Steiner told the AFP news agency that the immediate consequences of the war in terms of infrastructure destruction, as well as poverty and loss of livelihoods, “are enormous.”
“It is clear from this socio-economic assessment that the level of destruction has set the State of Palestine back several years, if not decades, in terms of its development path,” Steiner added.
Steiner said that even if humanitarian aid was provided every year after the war ended, the Palestinian economy would not return to pre-crisis levels for at least a decade.
The study also says that the Israeli bombing campaign has created 42 million tons of rubble in Gaza, posing serious health risks.
Destroying solar panels is particularly dangerous given the lead and other heavy metals they release, the report said.
The United Nations Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) on Tuesday issued an urgent appeal for a pause in the fighting in northern Gaza to allow humanitarian aid to reach civilians trapped there. down.
In a post on X, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said agency staff said they were unable to find food, water or medicine in the war-ravaged region.
“The smell of death is everywhere as bodies are left on the roads or under the rubble. Missions to evacuate bodies or provide humanitarian aid are refused,” he said.
The Gaza government media office said that since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza, Israeli forces have prevented the entry of “more than a quarter of a million trucks of aid and goods”, leaving 96 percent of its population facing high levels of food shortage.
At least 42,718 people have been killed and 100,282 injured in Israeli attacks since October 7, 2023, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.