Gaza’s economy now represents only 4.1% of the entire Palestinian economy, compared to 16.7% before the war.
With the war in Gaza, the unemployment rate in the Palestinian territory has risen to around 80%, the International Labor Organization (ILO) said on Friday. The war between Israel and Hamas has “caused the loss of jobs and livelihoods on a vast scale”, while GDP has collapsed, according to the ILO.
Since the start of the war following the bloody Hamas attack on Israeli territory on October 7, 2023, “the unemployment rate in the Gaza Strip has reached a staggering 79.1%,” the ILO said, citing a new report from the ILO and the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. In the West Bank, the unemployment rate reached 32%, the organization said.
“Sad tribute”
These figures “do not take into account those who have left the labor market because employment prospects are inaccessible,” notes the organization. “The real number of those who have lost their jobs is therefore higher than the unemployment figures suggest,” she analyzes. On the other hand, real GDP contracted by 83.5% in the Gaza Strip and 22.7% in the West Bank over the past eight months, according to the ILO.
This new assessment “shows that the sad toll that the war in the Gaza Strip has taken in human lives, and the desperate humanitarian situation it has caused are accompanied by a large-scale devastation of economic activities and resources. livelihoods,” said Ruba Jaradat, ILO regional director for Arab countries.
Gaza’s economy now represents only 4.1% of the entire Palestinian economy, compared to 16.7% before the war. The report was released as the ILO holds its annual International Labor Conference in Geneva from June 3 to 14.
