The International Labour Organisation said on Thursday that since the Israel-Hamas conflict broke out, unemployment in Gaza has skyrocketed to almost 80% and the ravaged enclave’s economy is in near total collapse.Since the conflict with Israel started a year ago, the country’s economic output has decreased by 85%, pushing nearly all 2.3 million people into poverty, according to the United Nations agency.The ILO, referring to Gaza and the West Bank, stated that the fighting has had “unprecedented and wide-ranging devastation on the labour market and the wider economy across the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
Palestinians walk near rubble and destroyed buildings, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, October 10, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
According to the ILO, the West Bank’s unemployment rate averaged 34.9% from October 2023 to September 2024, despite the region’s economy contracting by 21.7% over the same period last year.The Geneva-based organisation states that prior to the crisis, the unemployment rate in Gaza was 45.3% and in the West Bank was 14%.
According to the ILO, Gazans either completely lost their jobs or began taking on sporadic, informal jobs “primarily centred on the provision of essential goods and services.”
Following an attack on October 7 by gunmen led by Hamas, which left about 1,200 people dead and 250 hostages, Israel began its offensive, according to Israeli estimates.More than 42,000 people have died as a result of Israel’s counterattack, according to Gaza’s health authorities.Based on data from U.N. satellites, over 163,000 buildings, or two thirds of Gaza’s pre-war structures, have been destroyed or damaged.
Israel claims that the goal of its operations is to find and eliminate Hamas militants who are hiding among Gaza’s civilian population and in tunnels.
The ILO stated that the crisis has spread to the West Bank, where Israeli restrictions on the movement of people and goods, in addition to wider trade restrictions and supply-chain disruptions, have had a significant negative economic impact.Israel claims that in order to combat militant organisations supported by Iran and to protect Israeli civilians, it was obliged to take action in the West Bank.
“The consequences of the conflict in the Gaza Strip extend well beyond the death toll, dire humanitarian situations, and material devastation,” stated Ruba Jaradat, regional director of the ILO for Arab states.