The United Nations has presented “unprecedented levels of human loss, destruction of capital and sharp increase in poverty” as the Israeli offensive moves into its seventh month.
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The United Nations warned this Thursday that more 1.74 million Palestinians could fall below the poverty line in the coming months if the war between Israel and Hamas does not end.
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) said in a report that the poverty rate in the Occupied Palestinian Territories continues to rise as the Israeli offensive against Gaza approaches its seventh month.
According to the UNDP, the The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the Palestinian territories fell by 26.9 percent (around 6.6 billion euros) compared to data collected in 2023, before the start of the war.
“Each additional day of this war represents an enormous and growing cost for the inhabitants of Gaza and for all Palestinians, now and in the medium and long term,” said the UNDP, quoted by the Spanish agency Europa Press.
UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner said the new data “warns that the suffering in Gaza will not end when the war ends.”
“The unprecedented levels of human casualtiesHe capital destruction and the sharp increase in poverty In such a short time they will precipitate a serious development crisis that threatens the future of future generations,” he stated.
The war was triggered by the attack by the Palestinian extremist group Hamas on Israeli soil on October 7, 2023, which caused approximately 1,200 dead and two hundred hostagesaccording to Israeli authorities.
Since then, an Israeli offensive against the Gaza Strip has caused almost 34,600 deaths and the destruction of numerous infrastructure in the Palestinian enclave, according to a report from the local government controlled by Hamas.
In the document on the socioeconomic impact of the conflict, the UNDP estimates that another three months of fighting will increase poverty among Palestinians to 60.7%, which corresponds to 2.25 times more than before the war.
The increase means 1.86 million additional people below the poverty line and a decrease in GDP of 29%, with total losses of around seven billion euros.
The UNDP fears a regression of development to levels before 2004, when the Human Development Index (HDI) was first calculated in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
The direct damage inflicted on the infrastructure built in Gaza amounts to around $18.5 billion (€17.2 billion), equivalent to 97% of the territory’s total GDP in 2022.
The UNDP estimates that the unemployment rate in the region will increase by 0.5 percentage points for each additional month of war, reaching 46.1%.
The projections suggest that the Poverty could increase by 127.3% in the next three monthscompared to pre-war levels.
Source: Observadora
