Stark UN report on devastation to Palestinian economy shows GDP fell 4% after a month of war
economictimes.indiatimes.comPalestinian economy after a month of war and Israel’s near-total siege of Gaza.
The gross domestic product shrank 4% in the West Bank and Gaza in the war’s first month, sending over 400,000 people into poverty — an economic impact unseen in the conflicts Syria and Ukraine, or any previous Israel-Hamas war, the U.N. said.
Hamas militants, who rule Gaza, launched a surprise attack on Israel on Oct.
7 killing over 1,400 people, mainly civilians, and kidnapping about 240 others.
More than two-thirds of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million have fled their homes since Israel launched weeks of intense airstrikes followed by an ongoing ground operation, vowing to obliterate Hamas. The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza said Thursday that 10,818 Palestinians, including more than 4,400 children, have been killed so far.
The rapid assessment of economic consequences of the Gaza war released Thursday by the U.N.
Development Program and the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for West Asia was the first U.N.
report showing the devastating impact of the conflict especially on the Palestinians.
If the war continues for a second month, the U.N. projects that the Palestinian GDP, which was $20.4 billion before the war began, will drop by 8.4% — a loss of $1.7 billion.
And if the conflict lasts a third month, Palestinian GDP will drop by 12%, with losses of $2.5 billion and more than 660,000 people pushed into poverty, it projects.
U.N. Development Program Assistant Secretary-General Abdallah Al Dardari told a news conference that a 12% GDP loss at the end of the year would be “massive and unprecedented.” By comparison, he said, the Syrian economy used to lose 1% of its GDP per month at the height of its conflict, and it took Ukraine a
