New York: The United Nations report has warned that the socioeconomic “shock” of the Israel-Gaza war will force hundreds of thousands of Palestinians into poverty.
As the war passed the one-month mark, poverty had risen by 20 percent and gross domestic product (GDP) declined by 4.2 percent, according to the report by the UN Development Programme and the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA).
As per the agencies, the economic damage is greater than that of the wars in Syria and Ukraine or any prior Israel-Palestine conflict.
The UN predicts that if the war continues for a further month, the Palestinian GDP, which was previously valued at $20.4 billion annually, will decrease by $1.7 billion, or 8.4 percent.
Currently, 1.8 million Palestinians are living in poverty, said Ms. Rola Dashti, Executive Secretary of ESCWA. The poverty rate in Gaza was 61 percent before the Hamas-Israel war erupted on October 7.
Mr. Abdallah Al Dardari, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Director of UNDP’s regional bureau for Arab states remarked that the poverty rate in the West Bank was 30 percent.
Mr. Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator, stated that, “The unprecedented loss of life, human suffering, and destruction in the Gaza Strip is unacceptable.”
“This assessment alerts us that the impacts of this war will also have long-lasting effects and will not be confined to Gaza. On top of the humanitarian catastrophe, we see unfolding, there is also a development crisis. The war is rapidly accelerating poverty in a population already vulnerable before this crisis hit,” Mr. Steiner added.
Under the worst-case scenario, the human development index, which measures life expectancy, education, and standard of living, might return to 2007 levels, the UN assessment noted.
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