The economy in the Gaza Strip is very bad – and not just since yesterday. UNCTAD has presented its report on the situation in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories.
The economic situation in the Gaza Strip was already desolate before the recent escalation with daily rocket attacks from Israel. The UN Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) presented its report on the situation in the Gaza Strip and the other Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories last year in Geneva on Wednesday. In the Gaza Strip, 80 percent of the people were dependent on international aid.
There, real per capita economic output (GDP) in 2022 was 11.7 percent below the level before the 2019 corona pandemic. 45 percent of the people there were unemployed.
In all occupied territories combined, GDP per capita is only eight percent of the level in Israel. According to the report, Israel makes exports and trade relations so difficult that Palestinians are forced to conduct 72 percent of their trade with Israel. Israel is therefore preventing the import of important technologies for economic development. Because there is hardly any work, 22.5 percent of Palestinians employed in the West Bank had no choice but to work in Israel or Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
Unctad, founded in Geneva in 1964, is particularly committed to the interests of low- and middle-income countries in the United Nations. It has 195 member countries.
Source: Stern
